Immortal Surprise
by kage234
Summary: After the Cullens leave Bella gets a rude awakening. She's gonna live forever but she's not a vampire .What the heck is going on? A/B
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**- no I do not own any of these characters or Twilight, they belong to that Stephanie Meyer chick.

I also do not own any highlander characters, I'm not sure who does but it isn't me.

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It had been four months since the Cullen's had abandoned her and left Forks. Bella sighed deeply as Charlie sat watching her whilst she nibbled at her breakfast.

"Bella, I'm heading into Port Angeles this afternoon. I think you should come with me, you need to get out of the house for a while" Charlie stated...

Bella stared at Charlie blankly "Alright Charlie, let me just get changed" she mumbled as she made her way up the stairs hoping that this would at least keep him from worrying so much.

As they made their way to the city the silence in the car was starting to get tense. The crease in Charlie's forehead tightened as he watched Bella stare vacantly out of the car window.

"I have to stop at the station to drop off some reports, how about you pick up some money at the bank and we'll spend the day together. I'll even let you buy lots of books."

She looked at her father and a small grin graced her lips as she thought of the effort he was putting in to cheering her up.

"Yeah dad, I'd like that" Charlie grinned in response as they settled into a comfortable silence and drove into Port Angeles.

Bella walked into the local bank making her way to the counter, settling into the queue as she waited to be served. She was in her own little world when she was startled by a loud bang  
and two large, masked men stormed into the foyer.

Her eyes widened as she gaped in horror as the lead gunman strode to the counter, gun aimed at the teller. The second gunman grabbed Bella by the shoulder and shoving her towards the other customers who were being corralled on the opposite side of the bank.

"Everyone shut the hell up and I don't have to start making examples of anyone" sneered the gunman at the counter. Shoving the gun in the woman's face he ordered her to hand over all the money.

All Bella could hear around her was the sobbing and whimpers of the terrified customers as they were forced to the floor. It was when they heard the sirens as the police raced to the scene that all pandemonium broke out.

It was then that the leader at the counter pistol whipped the teller screaming at her

"You bitch! You hit the alarm" before shooting her in the head as she cowered on the floor.

They could hear the police pulling up to surround the building. Yelling at his accomplice to grab a hostage, the gunman stormed over to Bella grabbing her by her hair to pull her up.

"Guess it's you lucky day girl" he snarled as he pushed her to the front exit.

She was pulled up to his chest facing forward as he used her for a shield. She could see the second gunman following them with his own hostage and wondered if either of them would get through this alive. As they came through the door all she could see was a row of weapons pointed at them. Being pulled against the gunman's chest was making it awkward to move and it certainly wasn't helped by the gun against her temple.

"All of you back up and drop the guns or I start getting trigger happy" he yelled.

"We are not going anywhere, drop the guns and let the hostages go" an officer responded.

"Not a chance" he laughed grimly, "I'm gonna walk out of here or this girls brains are gonna be splattered all over the sidewalk."

Bella swallowed deeply feeling the monsters hand around her throat and the gun barrel shaking against her temple. She knew this wasn't going to end well. As she looked into the faces of the men facing her she saw Charlie standing with them his face etched with panic.

"Ironic" she thought, Edward had already destroyed her spirit and this man would destroy what was left. It was strange that she didn't feel any terror, only a calm acceptance of what was to come. She only wished that Charlie did not have to see this. She wondered if the Cullen's would care.

She was suddenly thrust forward, falling to her knees, her palms impaled on the gravel in front of her as she heard the gunman laugh insanely. Her hair fell over her face like a curtain as she studied the ground in front of her waiting for the shots which would end her life.

"Bella!" a voice cried out in panic, a voice she thought she would never hear again.

Jerking her head up, she stared into the frantic eyes of Alice Cullen.

"Alice" she murmured.

She noticed Rosalie standing behind her seemingly restraining Alice and whispering franticly into her ear. Alice shook her head and stared back at Bella, despair evident in her eyes.

It suddenly dawned on Bella that Alice couldn't do anything to help without threatening exposure. With that thought she locked eyes with both the Cullen women tears glistening and whispered so only they could hear "Tell your family I forgive them and tell Charlie I love him."

She heard the shots before she felt them impact her back and collapsed to the ground. She could feel the blood bubbling up in her mouth and gasped desperately for breath. The last thing she heard before the cold and darkness surrounded her was Alice screaming her name.


	2. Chapter 2

**WOW** – **thanks for all the awesome reviews. Here is chapter 2!**

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Her eyelids fluttered open as the cold air swirled against her naked body, goose bumps rising along her skin. Confused she glanced around the sterile, spartan room which looked suspiciously like a morgue.

"What the hell!" she whispered.

"Oh good, you're awake." A Scottish brogue exclaimed from her left...

Startled by the voice she fell from the table, the sheet covering her fluttering down with her. Blushing like tomato she pulled the sheet against her chest and glared at the tall man watching her from the corner. He was tall, at least 6.1, handsome with his dark hair pulled back into a short ponytail. His warm blue eyes observed her carefully as she took inventory of him.

Rustling up her courage she asked "Who are you? What is going on?"

"We cannae discuss this here Lass, we need to go." he responded, "Here's some clothes, put the hood up on the jacket to cover your face."

He turned to face the wall as she grasped the clothes and started pulling them on.

Finally dressed, the stranger turned back to her "My name is Duncan MacLeod, there is a lot I need to explain but not here. Follow me." as he gestured to the door.

"Look I need to know more than your name; you could be some kind of psychopath for all I know."

"Well you could always stay here and explain to the medical examiner why you are no longer dead and lying on the autopsy table. That should be fun." He smirked.

Glancing back at the table she grimaced "Yeah that could be awkward. Alright I'll follow you but no funny business and you'll explain what the hell is going on, OK"

"Done, let's go"

Getting out of the morgue was a lot easier than expected, so nice of them to keep it in the basement she thought. They had passed no one in the halls and Duncan had advised Bella to keep her head down when they passed the cameras as they exited the hospital.

They were currently driving into the warehouse district of Seattle.

"How did I even get to Seattle, I was shot in Port Angeles" she asked.

"The hospital there didn't have the facilities for all the autopsies to be done after the shooting."

"What! Who else was killed?" she exclaimed.

"From what I heard there were you, the other hostage, both the gunmen who were so riddled with holes they looked like Swiss cheese and one police officer? There were others wounded but not it was like something from the OK coral" he answered.

They pulled up to a converted warehouse, the sign above the door saying "Macleod Dojo".

Walking through the building Duncan led them up to his apartment. The door opened to a large open space room which included a kitchenette off to the side. Bella glanced around taking in the furnishings. A lot of it seemed to be set out for comfort almost like a bachelor pad but there was the odd antique speckled throughout the room which gave it a sense of age and sophistication .What caught her eye however was the back wall which was covered with a lot of large and very sharp looking swords.

"Well have a seat Lass and I'll start explaining" he gestured to the couch.

She made her way over and sat facing Duncan .Taking a deep breath to steady her for what was to come, she asked the dreaded question.

"What am I?"

"You Isabella Swan are an Immortal" he stated solemnly.

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Sorry this chapters not as long but since I got so many reviews I wanted to get a chapter out quickly to say thanks,

Next chapter will be longer-Promise. Also the Cullens will be popping up soon


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**- I own neither the Twilight or Highlander The Series characters.

There won't be very many Highlander characters in this as it was mostly to explain what Bella was. So if you haven't watched this program don't worry.

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**Chapter 3**

Bella was currently passing the 'Welcome To Forks' sign and feeling a sense of déjà vu as she took in the grey sky and drizzle coming down. Chuckling to herself as she remembered how much she had hated the weather and the colour green originally when she had moved in with Charlie.

It had been almost 50 years since Bella had last stepped foot in Forks. The last time she had been here was for Charlie's and her own funeral. It had been a rather large turn out from both the residents of Forks and of La Push. Duncan had driven her there but only allowing her to observe from a distance stating she could allow no one to see her. She had been disheartened to see that none of the Cullen's had shown up, though she had watched as Jacob and Billy stood with her mother and Phil to offer comfort. Renee had looked devastated as she hung to Phil, lost in her grief of losing her daughter and her ex-husband. As flighty as Renee had been Bella knew that Renee had loved her deeply and had still cared immensely for Charlie.

Jolting herself out of those morbid memories, she took in the forest around her.

"Oh how I have missed this place." she thought.

After travelling for so long she had decided to move back to Forks finding that even after all the places she had lived she still quantified this as home .It would be unlikely that anyone would remember her after this amount of time and she planned on staying for as long as possible. That meant starting Forks High as a junior. Using makeup and haircuts she could pass from any age between 16 to 25 years without suspicion.

When she arrived at her old house she was glad to see the repairs and furnishings she had paid for had made the property liveable and was pleased to see the old tree outside her bedroom was still there although much larger than she remembered.

Pulling out her belongings from her new, black, Chevrolet truck she made her way up the steps and into the house.

Stepping inside she thought back to the day everything had changed for her. A rush of memories to when she had found out that Charlie had died in Port Angeles and what her future would then entail.

Flashback

_"An Immortal?" she'd asked confused._

_"An immortal human. What you were before is what we call a pre-immortal. When a pre-immortal has their first violent death the aging process stops and you become immortal. If you had died of sickness or old age this wouldn't have happened and you would just have been dead." He explained._

_Bella just stared at him with a stunned expression._

_"Once we are immortal there is only one way to kill us" Duncan continued._

_"And how exactly would that be?" trying to wrap her head around what she was being told._

_Keeping an eye on her facial expression he knew what he would tell her next would not be easy to accept._

_"There are hundreds of immortals around the globe. We have been around since the beginning of man and since then there have been stories told of 'The Gathering'." he started._

_" The Gathering states that 'There Can Be Only One' and because of this immortals will challenge each other to the death .Each immortal has a power we call the quickening, some say it is our soul; others say it is the grand prize for the Gathering. When immortals fight the only way to kill them is to cut off their head. The quickening transfers from the loser to the victor making them more powerful"_

_"What! "She shrieked._

_Continuing on before Bella could fall further into panic._

_"There are however rules for immortals. (A) When Immortals fight, they fight one against one - no mortal or any other Immortal may assist in a fight. (B) No fighting may take place on Holy Ground. It is considered to be sanctuary and is a place where talks between enemies can occur safely. (C) An Immortal can't strike another during the Quickening and (D) Immortals can't fight in public places in front of mortals "_

_"You expect me to go around chopping people's heads off! Are you out of you ever loving mind? I can't walk 10 feet without tripping over air."_

_She jumped to her feet and started pacing franticly in front of him._

_"Bella, not all immortals play the game, most just live, blending in with the mortals and making the most of their life but like most people there are the good and the bad. The head-hunters as we call them live only to be the last immortal standing and gain ultimate power and because of them you will have to learn how to protect yourself with a sword."_

_"No! What I need to do is head home to my father" she yelled._

_"Bella, the life you had before is over. To the rest of the world Bella Swan is dead." He declared placing his hand on her shoulder to calm her._

_"No I can't just leave Charlie; I'm all the family he has. I'll explain everything, he won't tell anyone" she begged._

_"I'm so sorry Bella but Charlie was the police officer that was killed in the crossfire."_

_She froze, the colour leeching from her face. All she could hear was a buzzing noise in her head as she tried to comprehend what he had said and felt her sight starting to blur as the tears arose._

_"No" she whimpered, "No, no, no" collapsing to her knees._

_Bending down to kneel in front of her Duncan engulfed her within his arms and offered what little comfort he could as she buried her face into his chest and sobbed._

End flashback

Duncan had been all that had kept her sane in the beginning. At first he had been her friend and teacher but over the years that had morphed into a strong sibling bond. They had even lived together a few times playing brother and sister.

Speaking of the devil she felt her phone vibrate as Duncan's name flashed up on the screen.

"Hey Lass, how's the house?"

"House like," she laughed, "How are things going in Vancouver?" she queried.

"I think I'm going to move soon, I think Paris is calling"

"Oooh, all those French women better beware" she smirked.

"Funny Bella, it's not my fault women find me attractive"

"Hmm, modest as well, how will they stay away?" Bella joked.

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit you know" he huffed.

"Yeah well, it's my only form of wit as you well know" she giggled. "Not that I mind you calling but why am I hearing from you so soon?"

"I've got your documents set up; you are now currently Isabella Marie Macleod." he answered.

"Thanks for getting it done so quickly, keeping Swan as my surname here would just be asking for trouble" she said.

"Aye and we all know you have no need to ask for trouble it just seems to leap out and find you"

"It's not my fault" she whined a faint blush crossing her cheeks.

"And how many immortals have tried to take your head now" he joked.

"It's only been twelve" she mumbled.

"Seriously though Bella, are you going to be okay. I know you have a lot of memories of that place and not all of them good, especially with what the Cullen's did."

She sighed knowing he was right. It had been over a year before she had trusted Duncan enough to explain what had happened with the Cullen's and the emotional state she had been in when he had first met her. It had turned out that while he was aware of the existence of vampires he had never come across them himself in his 400 years.

His close friend Methos or Adam as he was now being called was the oldest known immortal at over 5000 and was actually good friends with the Volturi brothers.

It turned out the Volturi knew of the existence of immortals but had kept it from most of the populace of vampires due to the fact immortal blood was poison to them. Methos had concluded that this was an immortals natural defense to stop the vampires from trying to use them as an eternal, never-ending blood banks.

Methos had taken her on a visit to Volterra during her training period when he had found out that she had known of vampires before becoming immortal. Introducing Bella to the three brothers had been unlike anything like she had expected. They had welcomed her into their world, introducing her to several of the higher ranking guards who knew what they were. Edward had always made them sound evil and that the vampires they were killing had been innocent of any wrong doing and that the Volturi just got off on slaughtering others because they could.

Aro had explained that though they killed vampires it was only those that had broken the ones that kept their existence a secret or threatened them in some way. They definitely weren't fluffy bunnies and she wouldn't want to get on their bad side but they weren't psychotic killers plundering the Italian countryside either.

When Aro has shaken her hand he had been confounded by the fact that his power did not work on her and had asked if he could try some of the other guards' gifts to test her. In the end it had turned out Jane, Alec, Demetri and Chelsea's powers had not worked nor had any of the other gifts that worked on the mind. Aro had bounced around the throne room in some kind of hyper frenzy when he found out and Bella had assumed he must have been feeding off some kind of drug addict before meeting her.

Marcus had not said much but had commented on several frayed bonds that he had noticed coming from her. When she had asked what he meant he had explained his gift for seeing the bonds between relationships and she in response had told him of her relationships with the Cullen's. He had studied her carefully for a few moments, staring into her eyes and just declared that Edward had never been her soul mate and not to waste the emotion on him.

Caius had been the most entertaining though, he had been lounging on his throne glaring at her and for some reason she had found this highly amusing and winked at him. The Cullen's must have been right when they said she had no self preservation, it certainly hadn't improved any after she became immortal. The wink had startled Caius so much he had barked out a laugh before settling his face into a more neutral expression. That had been the start of a bizarre friendship between them the two of them that went on to this day. It seemed to include a lot of bickering and mild insults around each other while they sparred with swords.

She had stayed in Volterra for several months. Spending time listening to the war stories told by Methos and Caius, history lessons from Marcus and just taking in as much as she could from the guards. Demitri and Felix had impressed apon on her the need to learn as many martial arts as she could to improve her balance and tone her body. They had also helped her to build up her speed with her swordplay. At the end of the visit, Aro, Caius and Marcus had gifted her with a set of twin blades which had quickly become her favourite and told her she was welcome to return at any time. She had thanking them freely and given each of them a hug before returning to Duncan to continue her apprentiship.

Turning her thoughts back to her conversation with Duncan,

"I'll be fine Duncan, you know as well as I that Edward was not my mate. Thinking back on that relationship, I can see that it was nothing more than obsession on his part. There was no equality in the relationship; he treated me more like a possession he wanted no one else to play with." she exclaimed calmly "Certainly I miss the Cullen's or the family I thought they were but Edward means nothing to me now"

Bella felt a small throb in her chest as she flashed to Alice's face before she had been shot. The agony she had seen there had not seemed faked but Alice hadn't even shown up at her funeral. Bella had no idea if she cared or not, the same with the rest of the family.

"I just want you to be happy" Duncan replied carefully. "Also you've had terrible taste in men and women over the years" he said to lighten the mood.

"Ha ha look whose talking. I need to go and get ready for school tomorrow. I'll speak to you soon Bro"

"Alright. Call me if you need me" he responded and hung up.

Arriving at Forks High she scrutinized the students milling around outside through her tinted truck windows. Grateful that she had dealt with that pesky balance problem by her cultivation of aikido, jujitsu, and krav maga over the decades, she exited her truck fluidly.

Sweeping past the students who were eyeing her, she entered the building and made her way to the main office. She was dressed in her normal casual wear, low riding skintight jeans with a dark, short sleeved, burgundy top which dipped low enough to show a hint of cleavage. This was topped off with a knee length leather duster.

Introducing her self to the elderly man behind the desk, "Hello, I'm the new student Isabella MacLeod".

"Nice to meet you Isabella, Welcome to Forks. I have your schedule and map here. You just need to have this card signed by each teacher." he replied and handed over the information to her.

"That's fine and please call me Bella" she smiled.

Walking out of the office, a lanky brown haired boy sidled up to her wearing what could only be described as the most hideous Hawaiian shirt she had ever seen.

"Hi new girl, my name is Dave Cheney and I would be honoured to escort your amazing self around the school, how about it?" he cajoled her with a big Cheshire smile.

Since he was setting of her gaydar big style she decided to banter back. Cocking an eyebrow at him she pouted,

"What, do I look like the kind of girl that can't read directions" holding up the school map.

"No, no definitely not but I do think I should help show you around and introduce you to my gang of cohorts." swinging his arm in a large gesture to seemingly include the whole school.

"Oh you have a band of cohorts, should I be scared?" she grinned amusedly.

"Most certainly, there's just the four of us Abby, her boyfriend Chuck and my boyfriend Aaron and Yes, we strike terror into all of those around us Waa Haa Haa." he cackled with an evil laugh.

"Well then 'Oh Evil One' my name's Bella and you've certainly made this a fascinating first 15 minutes of school for me" she stated seriously

"Glad to know my work here is well received" he bowed "But really, would you like to sit with us at lunch?" he asked.

"Sure, just point me in the direction of History first, I really suck at reading maps" she kidded before following Dave to class.

Luckily they had shared History class and he had introduced her to Aaron, a blond geek type who had the same classes with her for the next period.

Finally lunch had arrived and Bella was honestly going over in her head why she had decided to go back to school. Dave and Aaron had made the day bearable but the school work was boring enough to put her in a coma.

Laughing as they all strolled into the lunchroom Bella noticed that once again as the new girl all eyes were on her. Feeling the heat rise up her face she pleaded with Dave. "Please can we sit down before they all burn a hole though my forehead" even after all these years she hated being the centre of attention.

"Fear not little lady for we art here" he jested before tugging her towards a table where another couple was waiting. "Abby, Chuck I would like you to meet Isabella Macleod but she prefers to be called Bella"

They both waved and said Hello.

"It's nice to meet you both" Bella nodded to them and sat down.

They carried on a conversation while they ate their lunch asking the general questions of where she had lived before and what she liked. Joking together on why anyone would move to Forks on purpose. It was during this that the noise levels in the room dropped dramatically.

Bella watched as most heads around the room swiveled to the entrance door of the lunchroom as several more students entered. Wanting to see who was causing this kind commotion she turned in her chair and came face to face with a group of stunned Cullen's.

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Dun Dun Dun

The end of Chapter 3- Hope you liked.


	4. Chapter 4

Here we go –The Cullens POV.

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Chapter 4

Alice settled herself onto the highest branch of the large Evergreen tree to gaze over the rest of the forest. This had been a frequent occurrence since she and her family had moved back to Forks. They had been living in Forks for several months now and even after 50 years Alice still felt the loss of Bella deeply. Leaning back against the trunk she closed her eyes and listened to the noises of the animals and nature surrounding her trying to drown out the memories from her mind.

It was times like this that she hated having a vampire's eidetic memory. Having to watch in perfect detail as her best friends blood had been sprayed across the ground as the bullets had perforated her body .The horror had only continued when Charlie had screamed in rage and rushed out to reach his daughters side. He had only made it half way before bullets from the gunman's weapon had impacted his chest knocking him onto his back. He had been dead before he hit the ground, his blood pooling around his body.

Alice could remember screaming for Bella, hearing the gurgling of blood in Bella's throat as she had tried gasping for air. Struggling against Rosalie's grip she had tried to get to her but could only twist in desperation as she heard Bella's heartbeat falter and finally stop. All the fight had drained from her as she'd realised Bella was dead and had slumped in Rosalie's arms in a catatonic state.

Rosalie had just held her in her arms and raced back to Alaska as fast as she could, where the rest of the family had been staying with the Denali's. Rose had been switching between begging for forgiveness and pleading for Alice to respond the entire way.

Edward had already left to lament about his existence so it was only the rest of the family that had been home when Rosalie had crashed through the door with Alice cradled in her arms. Panic had engulfed the room as the family had rushed towards them, voices overlapping as questions were hurled at her asking what had happened. Rosalie had quickly explained stunning them into silence as they gaped in horror at what they were being told. It had taken Jasper hitting Alice with a healthy dose of emotion to snap her out of her comatose state. The pain, grief and rage that had exploded from her had knocked Jasper to his knees; grimacing in pain he had tried sending her happier emotions to calm her. Feeling no improvement she had just curled up in a foetal position on the floor, her hands covering her face and sobbed in despair and self loathing. It had taken hours for her to become compos mentis and explain why she had rushed to Port Angeles but it had been pretty self explanatory after Rose had mentioned Bella's death.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts and taking control of her emotions to her more normal, bubbly state she hopped off the branch she was balanced on and landed gently on the forest floor, darting quickly away making her way back to the Cullen house.

"Hi Emmett, where is everyone?"

"Hey squirt" he answered as he blasted aliens on his games console. They were all used to Alice disappearing for several hours at a time. "Rose is in the garage, Eddie's brooding in his room and the others are out hunting."

"I am not brooding" echoed a melancholic voice from above.

Ever since Bella had died Edward had been in his 'woe is me' phase. Alice's relationship with him had never been the same since he had forced them to leave Forks and Bella's death had caused it to deteriorate even further. Now she barely tolerated his presence which gratefully wasn't often since he liked to hide in his room and mope.

The family dynamics had certainly changed dramatically since they had last been in Forks she thought to herself.

"So Alice what can you tell us about the new girl?" Rosalie asked walking into the room.

"What new girl?" she tilted her head in confusion.

"You haven't had a vision of the new girl that's supposed to be starting school tomorrow. It's all anyone in Forks has been talking about" she asked surprised.

"Err no I haven't, maybe its just rumours" she answered as Rose glanced at her worriedly.

As strange as it seemed they had grown closer since Bella's death and had forged a stronger, warmer bond .Since Alice's feelings of grief had been so strong in the beginning it had made it difficult for Jasper to be near her and she had turned to Rosalie for comfort as they had both been riddled with guilt, Alice for leaving Bella at Edwards demand and Rosalie for holding Alice back when Bella had been shot.

"I'll guess we'll find out tomorrow then" Emmett interrupted from the couch.

"Who'll find out what tomorrow?" Jasper queried as he entered the house with his mate Tara

Twirling around at Jaspers drawl Alice smiled, "We're just talking about the new girl rumoured to be starting school tomorrow"

Her relationship with Jasper had fallen into a deep, platonic friendship after their marriage had disintegrated. They had divorced 2 years after Bella's funeral which the family had been banned from by those mangy La Push dogs. Jasper had left the Cullen's for a while stating the constant depression from the family was making it difficult for him to stay. He had promised to return as he was still part of the Cullen family. He had kept his word and shown up 8 years later with a new mate Tara, a quiet vampire that he had saved from a group of newborns in Austin, Texas.

"Oh wow, a new girl at Forks, anyone else feeling we've been here before" he joked wrapping his arm around Tara's waist as they sat down.

Alice flinched slightly at the vague mention of Bella. Jasper shot her a look of apology when he felt her slight flare of grief.

"Sorry" he mouthed.

Nodding her head in acknowledgment, "It's alright, you can mention her, it is a little deja vu"

Strolling over to Alice, Jasper took her face in his hands. "I know you loved her a great deal Alice and being back here in Forks can't be making it any easier"

"I just wish …" she started

"Why are you all comforting Alice, Bella was my mate" Edward interrupted stepping down from the stairs. "I'm the one that has to spend eternity alone now" he bemoaned.

All his siblings just rolled their eyes at this; it was only really Carlisle and Esme that pandered to him when he was like this and even they were getting fed up with it.

"Edward, you left her, not the other way around" Rosalie said, "It was your choice to leave and drag the rest of us with you"

"I left to protect her, we're monsters, it was safer that way" he argued.

"Yeah and see how well that worked out" Rosalie answered sarcastically.

"Why are you bothered" he snarled, "You didn't even like her. You just let her die".

"That's not true Edward" Alice interrupted, "She knew there was nothing we could do without being exposed. Even I understood that after time."

"God he was getting on her last nerve" she thought exasperatedly

Rosalie blanched when she heard Edwards's words. She still felt guilt for doing nothing more to help Bella but she had honestly been terrified of their secret being found out. It didn't help that Edward loved to rub it in any chance he got, that they had just stood and watched as Bella and Charlie had been killed. She was glad that Alice had eventually understood and had forgiven her but it still felt like a dark mark on her soul.

"I could have saved her" Edward replied arrogantly.

"Well you weren't there were you? You were off hiding in some damp attic in South America like the coward you are." Alice growled, clenching her small fists.

"WHAT!" he roared "I gave up my happiness to protect her from our kind"

"Oh please" she scoffed "All you cared about was yourself, what about Bella's choice?"

Seeing that this argument was about to get physical. Jasper let loose with a bout of serenity to calm everyone down.

"That's enough" he soothed, observing as Alice and Edwards body language relaxed slightly he let up on the emotions he was emitting.

Grunting in disgust Edward stormed back up to his room.

"Wuss "Alice thought to him as he left, hearing him snarl in response.

"Alice why do you wind him up like this, one day he is going to attack you" Jasper warned.

Arguments like this had been a more frequent occurrence between the two of them over the years and Jasper didn't want Alice being hurt. The first fight had been when Edward had returned after hearing of Bella's death and had blamed Alice. On top of that the wolves had refused to allow them at the funeral or they would void the treaty after witnessing the harm Edward had caused by leaving Bella in the woods that day. This being the first time they had heard of this, the Cullen's had glared at Edward but that had been the breaking point for Alice and she had lunged for him. Only Emmett grabbing her around the waist and hoisting her off the ground had stopped her from shredding Edward into tiny pieces.

"Hey a girl's gotta have a little fun and you guys won't come shopping with me any more" she pouted causing the others to burst into laughter.

"You are evil Tink. I like it" Emmett guffawed.

Edwards face was still twisted in to a sour expression when they made their way to school the next day. Jasper and Tara with Edward in the Volvo and Alice with Emmett and Rose in the Jeep. Pulling up in the car park Rosalie noticed the new black Chevy Silverado truck stationed near the entrance to the school. Not recognising the vehicle she figured it must belong to the new student.

"Ohh nice truck" Emmett proclaimed giving it the once over as they all vacated their vehicles. "Though not as sweet as my Jeep" he spluttered as an afterthought.

"Sure Honey" Rosalie commiserated, patting him on the shoulder condescendingly and leading him into the school.

Shaking with laughter Jasper, Tara and Alice followed them in, separating and making their way to their own classes.

Later that day with lunch coming up they had all congregated in the halls before heading to the lunch hall.

"So have any of you had any classes with the new chick?" asked Emmett excitedly.

"No, I've not even had a vision of her" Alice acknowledged softly.

"What do you think that means" Jasper queried worriedly as his eyes darted around as if expecting an enemy to jump out and attack.

"I don't know. I haven't had any visions of anyone attacking and it's not related to the wolves as they just leave a big black space." she shrugged.

"Shouldn't you be a bit more vigilant in looking for danger" sneered Edward.

"Shouldn't you be a bit more vigilant in removing that stick from your ass" she parried hearing Emmett and Jasper snicker behind her.

Ever the peacekeeper Tara quietly spoke up "Why don't we just go to lunch and introduce ourselves. I'm sure she'll already be there by now"

"So speaks the voice of reason" Jasper retorted proudly kissing his mate on the cheek

"Now we know who the brains of the operation is, lets go" Alice quipped shepherding them into the lunch hall.

Scanning the room to see if she could locate the new student, Alice sauntered into the room as it descended into silence. Catching the back of a wavy haired brunette sitting, chatting at the outsiders table, she pranced her way over, her siblings following silently.

As if sensing someone one behind her the brunette slowly twisted in her seat and suddenly Alice Cullen was gazing into the warm chocolate eyes of Bella Swan...

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End of chapter 4- Thanks for all the reviews and alerts.

Most appreciated.

.


	5. Chapter 5

Here you go. The next chapter

Just to let you know i won't be updating as often as i'm back at work.

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**Chapter 5**

All Alice could do was stand and stare at the girl in front of her. Maybe she was having the vampire equivalent of mental breakdown because she could swear she was staring into the face of Bella Swan.

"Bella?" she whispered.

She recognised that brown silky hair framing the heart shaped face, brown eyes gazing into her own golden orbs in recognition; she could smell the faint trace of freesias in the air and could hear the rhythmic beating of Bella's heart.

"How could this be?" Alice wondered, joy flooding her chest as she took in her best friends appearance before her.

Bella felt the tension soar in her body as she rose slowly; she had not expected to ever see the Cullen's again especially not back here in Forks. Crap, this was so going to put a spanner in her plans. She certainly didn't want to explain to the Cullen's what had happened over the last 50 years or why she was still alive but she knew how curious they could be.

She was startled from her musings when Edward suddenly lunged past Alice and grabbed her in a tight embrace, burying his face into her hair.

"Bella you're alive" he murmured.

Ripping herself from his arms she spat "Get your fucking hands off me Edward." She couldn't believe he actually had the nerve to hug her. Reminders to self – once home have a very long shower.

"Love, I've missed you so much" he cooed, taking a step forward towards her, his arm outstretched.

Bella could feel the rage building within her. Taking a breath to let loose a tirade which would make Fuckwards ears bleed she was interrupted by a voice sitting next to her.

"You know the Cullen's?" Dave enquired curiously switching his gaze between Bella and Edward. 'This was better than daytime TV' he mused.

"Unfortunately" she muttered coldly, glaring at the rest of the Cullen's who still remained frozen, looking rather gob smacked as they took in the scene in front of them. Noticing they were still in the middle of the cafeteria with all eyes on them Bella calmed herself and directed her response to Dave.

"Yes we're old acquaintances." She acknowledged," It's been awhile and well we really didn't part on good terms, did we?" she retorted, aiming a twisted smile at the Cullen's.

Finally breaking from her stupor Alice responded quickly to Dave's question, making sure her voice could be heard by the surrounding tables and the eavesdropping students. "Yes, we knew each other when we were younger. Edward and Bella used to date but our father had to move due to work commitments and as you can tell the long distance relationship didn't work out too well" she disclosed hoping this explanation would suffice to make sure no one became suspicious of the display between Edward and Bella. The gossips would be having a field day with this for weeks she thought.

Aiming her next question at Bella, "We would love it if you would visit with us after school. Carlisle and Esme would love to see you again" she appealed.

She would rather have her finger nails ripped out one by one Bella thought idly. Taking in all the Cullen's countenance and entreating looks, she retorted.

"So sorry but I'm going to be pretty busy for the foreseeable future, things to do, distractions to deal with. You know how it is?" She smirked internally at seeing the barb hit home as Edward cringed.

Jasper couldn't believe how much animosity he felt coming from Bella towards them. It fluctuated between pure loathing which pulsated whenever she looked at Edward, to betrayal and loss when her eyes glanced over Alice. Throwing some trust at Bella to get her to agree to Alice's proposal he was met with a lethal glare which pretty much screamed 'Stop that or die!'. Taking the better part of valour he pulled back his power before Bella went totally postal on him.

"How about we discuss this outside?" he asked quickly trying to get out of the line of fire.

Knowing that they weren't going to take no for an answer and that she didn't want to continue this in front of the whole school, Bella nodded her head sharply in agreement. Picking up her bag she made her way outside followed shortly by the Cullen's. Converging far enough away from the school that no one could hear their conversation she spun around to meet them head on.

"Alright here I am, what do you want?" she asked crossing her arms defiantly.

"Bella how is this possible? Rose and I saw you die" Alice stated bewildered. "Yet here you are looking exactly the same age and with a pulse to boot"

"I really don't think that is any of your business. You all made it quite clear 50 years ago that I was of no consequence." Bella argued.

"Bella Love, I lied I never meant any of those awful lies I spouted. I have always loved you; you are my soul mate, my existence for living .I can't bear to be without you," Edward waxed poetically.

"Oh Boo Hoo" she jeered rubbing her thumb and forefinger together in front of him. "See this. This is me playing the world's smallest violin. Edward, I wouldn't trust you if you told me grass was green and I hate to break it to you but you've existed quite well without me for 50 years"

Taking in his features she wondered how she could not have seen how controlling and selfish he really was. Back then all he had really had to do was dazzle her and she gave him whatever he requested and even that still hadn't been enough for him. Everything had had to be on his terms and she had loved him so much she had just accepted it and thanked what ever gods there were that he had loved her. She honestly thought the only true thing he had ever said about their relationship was when he had compared her to a brand of heroin. He had acted like she was his next fix and his behaviour had bordered on obsessive stalking. Hell if anyone had acted like that with her now she would have hit them with a restraining order so fast their head would spin.

"Please Bella, telling you those things was like ripping my own heart out. Please forgive me?" he begged.

Alice could see that the more Edward spoke the more irate Bella was getting. Heading Edward of at the pass before he completely alienated Bella from speaking with them she intervened.

"Look it's near the end of lunch. We can continue this after school." Her eyes pleading with Bella to agree.

She could see that Alice was trying to keep her from verbally flaying her brother so huffed, "You lot are just going to keep annoying me if I don't agree, aren't you?"

"Yep" Alice answered with a cheeky grin seeing Bella starting to soften.

"Fine" she consented. "Just leave me be until then and by the way the name's Bella MacLeod these days" and headed back into the school.

It was finally the end of the day and Bella knew she was going to have to face the Cullen's again." She had been hounded repeatedly by the other students throughout her classes on how she knew the elusive Cullen's. To say she was ready to snap was a mild understatement. Bracing herself for the oncoming encounter she marched out to her truck to meet the Cullen's.

She found them lingering, anxiously waiting against their cars. Their eyes following her every movement as she made her way over to them.

"Well this seems like fun, is this an intervention? Are you afraid I don't remember where you live? It has been a long time you know, I may have forgotten." she mocked sardonically.

"Bella, Please?" Alice pleaded gently, not liking the verbal attack and sneer that had entered Bella's tone.

Looking at Alice's hurt expression Bella felt like a total heel. Urgh, she hated how one look from those wide puppy dog eyes and she just folded like a cheap suit.

"Fine, I'll follow you in my truck" she conceded, happy when Alice flashed a large grin in response and started bouncing in barely contained excitement.

"I'd be happy to escort you Bella" Edward said displaying his crooked grin in hopes of spending some time with her on the drive back to the house. He knew if he could get her alone he could explain his reasoning and get her to forgive him. She just needed to understand that he knew what was best for her.

Throwing a disgusted look at him she rolled her eyes, "I don't need a babysitter Edward. I've been driving all by myself for 50 years now. I think I'll manage"

Emmett just grabbed him and pushed him to his Volvo "Just get in the car Eddie before you make an even bigger idiot of yourself than you already are." He winked at Bella before getting into his own vehicle. "See ya at the house Bells" he grinned ecstatic that his little sister was back.

By the time her Chevy had driven up the driveway the Cullen's had all managed to park their cars and were waiting on the porch with Carlisle and Esme. She figured they must have called ahead to give them warning. As she pulled up in her truck she took inventory of these people she had once called family. Like her they physically hadn't changed much, just the clothes and the odd hairstyle. It was the expression in their eyes that she noticed first. When she had first met them there had been an almost physical energy that she felt from them and there eyes had sparked with whatever emotion they were feeling at the time. Now it was if it was all muted, even their posture was slightly different giving an almost defeated vibe.

Exiting her truck she sauntered up to them, her duster billowing against her legs.

"Carlisle, Esme" she acknowledged nodding her head in greeting.

Esme feasted her eyes on her lost daughter in wonder. She looked amazing, her hair was shorter than she remembered, and it now hung just below her shoulders in dark mahogany waves. Her smoky chestnut eyes giving her a stronger worldlier look rather than the naïve innocence they used to emit. Even her body seemed stronger; more toned and well balanced which showed as she had made up way from the truck without tripping once. How she wished she could embrace her daughter and beg forgiveness for abandoning her but she could tell from Bella's body language that it would not be appreciated.

"Bella" she welcomed, her eyes glistening in joy. "Please come inside"

No matter how hurt she felt she could never be rude or angry at Esme, it would be the equivalent of kicking a puppy or gaining major amounts of bad karma that she could ill afford. Following Esme into the house she casually took in the differences before sitting down.

"So…." Bella trailed off eyeing the vampires around her.

"Okay I have to ask." Rosalie jumped in unexpectedly "What the hell are you?"

"Rose! That is rude" Esme exclaimed.

Bella just snorted in amusement as Rosalie was chastised.

"Humph, like you all don't want to know" Rosalie griped.

"Yes well, as impolite as Rosalie's question was it was an interesting one" Carlisle responded scrutinising Bella with a look.

"Hmm, I find it highly amusing that you all think I'm just going to sit here and answer your questions. Exactly what is it you think I owe you?" Bella challenged. "The only reason I agreed to come was because your children refused to let it go and I didn't want a major incident in the middle of school. Apparently exposure doesn't seem to worry them any more"

"Well you are obviously not human any more" Rosalie stated. "You could be a danger to us."

"Yes I suppose I could be," she chuckled. "Actually I'm 100% human although I guess you could say I'm more like 100% human plus a bonus." Bella teased.

Curious as to what she meant Carlisle asked "What do you mean?"

"Hmm, there you go again Carlisle, always asking questions. How about I ask some questions first?" she queried narrowing her eyes as she glowered at him.

Sensing the anger lying beneath the surface he replied carefully "That's certainly fair, what do you want to know?"

"Oh what to ask first?" she pondered finger tapping against her chin. "Hmm, how about why you all left with no word or why Dickward there thought dumping me in the middle of the forest was a good idea. No? You don't like those questions, how about why you all lied to me about being apart of your family or that you loved me."

"You are family Bella. We loved you a great deal, we still do." Carlisle implored gently. "We left to keep you safe, Edward thought it was to dangerous for you to be around us after the incident at you birthday" he explained

"Family!" she yelled "You love me!" she screamed. "What a crock of shit! You all threw me a way like a piece of trash, a pet you had gotten bored with." she snarled in disgust. "You destroyed me because your little golden boy over there said 'Jump' and you all asked 'How high'"

"Bella Please!" Esme sobbed. "That isn't true, we love you"

"Really? I don't remember any of you saying goodbye, not even a 'Fuck You' before you all disappeared. Then dear old Edward here tells me I'm nothing but a pathetic human and a distraction that he got bored with and it'll be as if you never existed."

There was a resounding WHAT! bellowed from several of the Cullen's at hearing this but Bella carried on "So what exactly am I missing. How was what you did meant to keep me safe?" she asked turning her tirade on Edward.

Edward just cowered in his seat, seemingly being lamblasted by his families furious thoughts.

Alice could feel her heart breaking as she heard the pain laced throughout Bella's voice. They had truly destroyed her by leaving and she didn't think Bella could ever forgive them. She could see the expressions on the faces of her family and they were just as distraught at the pain they had caused because of the lies from their brother.

"If you could tell us what happened after we left, trust us to…" Carlisle started.

"Trust! I gave your family my trust once and you spat all over it." Having had enough of this conversation, Bella grabbed her things and stormed out to her truck feeling the anger and long forgotten pain rampaging through her.

Alice jumped from her seat and raced after her…

"Bella wait please!" she implored. She could see Bella opening the door of her truck and she rushed to her side to halt her. Embracing Bella from behind, she could feel Bella shaking in anger from the dispute with her family. Arms wrapped around Bella's waist and her face buried into Bella's neck, Alice inhaled the familiar scent that she had missed so very much and whimpered "Please Bella. Please forgive me..."

Back in the house the rest of the Cullen's were scowling at Edward. His lies had caused them to abandon a member of their family. They would not forgive or forget lightly. Thinking back to Bella they wondered how they could make amends and set about planning to make things right...

End of Chapter 5.

Aha- I didn't end with a cliff hanger this time as I'm pretty sure most of you would have been after me with pitchforks if I did.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer**- I still own nothing since I'm not Stephanie Meyer in disguise

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**Chapter 6**

All she could see was red as she fled to her truck, jerking open her truck door she felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her waist. Freezing abruptly she felt Alice's body meld itself to her back and her face buried into her hair.

"Please forgive me Bella" she mumbled into her neck as sobs wracked her body.

Twisting in Alice's embrace as the anger abated, Bella wrapped her arms around the sobbing figure of her best friend. Rubbing her hand lightly down Alice's back she soothed her gently.

"Shhh Alice. It's okay. Please don't cry"

'How the hell was she supposed to stay all aloof and remote when she had a bawling pixie draped all over her.' she thought.

"I'm so sorry. I should have never listened to them. I didn't want to leave, honest" Alice stuttered anxiously. "It almost destroyed me watching you die. I need an explanation please…" she begged.

"Alice, I don't know what you want me to say or do, the past is the past." she said running her hand through her hair in exasperation. Alice was messing up her perfectly thought out plan of staying well away from the Cullen's for all eternity and then some.

"I just want to know what happened to you and to explain why I left when I did."

Looking at Alice with a stoic expression Bella studied the small vampire in front of her.

After a few moments she gestured to the passenger seat, "All right then. Get in the truck."

"What?" Alice asked bemused at the shift in subject.

"Car! In! I'm not having a personal, one on one chat in the middle of your driveway with your family eavesdropping. So get in the car" Bella huffed.

Smiling like she just won free tickets to a fashion show Alice pranced over to Bella, kissing her on the cheek before hopping into the truck.

"Well let's get going then" she smirked impishly from the passenger seat.

"Urgh, I can't believe I still let you manipulate me like this"

"It's because you love me" she grinned cheekily, eyes sparkling in amusement.

"Yeah whatever" Bella deadpanned with a small twitch of her lips. "Let's go"

Finally making there way back to Bella's home, Alice followed her in, watching as Bella hooked her jacket up. Her jaw dropped as she took in the twin blades that Bella had sheathed beneath her duster.

"What on earth do you have those for?" she asked stunned.

"These are part of your explanation" Bella answered as she caressed the hilts of her swords. Striding over to the couch she took a seat, turning so she was facing Alice.

Alice could only plant her self next to her and ponder what exactly she was going to ask first. Her brain was whirling a mile minute as she went over all the questions running through her mind. There seemed to be a never-ending supply.

"Okay, First of all will you tell me how you are still alive? I mean I saw that man shoot you and heard your heart stop" Alice asked. "You're obviously not a vampire as I can hear your heartbeat and the blood rushing through your veins but you haven't aged a day"

In all her immortal life Alice had never been this confused and it showed.

Taking pity on the baffled vampire she decided to explain "It's a long story but I am still human. I just have a small quirk where I just don't stay dead."

"What! How does that work?" Alice exclaimed.

"I am immortal. It means I don't age and when I do die my body heals and I wake up again in perfect health. The timing of how long it takes depends on the amount of damage done to my body. It can fluctuate between a couple of minutes to a day"

"Wow! I've never heard of anything like this before. Ohh… do you have any super powers" she asked bouncing in her seat with childlike glee.

Laughing and shaking her head in amusement Bella answered, "No I'm afraid not. I'm a little stronger and quicker than a normal human but nothing compared to vampire speed and strength"

"Arrgh no fair." Alice pouted. "Seriously though what is with the swords?" she queried looking Bella in the eye.

'Nothing good could come of Bella running around with sharp objects, especially vicious looking blades like those' she mused silently.

Bella took a deep breath; she didn't want to explain the dark side of being an immortal, the taking of lives even if it was for her own survival. She had killed twelve immortals who had challenged her over the years; apparently because she looked so young many of the head-hunters considered her an easy target. Luckily she had been trained by the best and between the training of Duncan and Methos she could hold her own against older immortals.

"That's not something I want to get into at the moment. Why don't you explain what happened with you and your family. Don't think I didn't notice the new vampire in the family and the fact she is with Jasper, what happened?" Bella challenged.

Hearing the diversion for what is was Alice decided to let it slide and answer Bella's questions.

"After what happened on your 18th birthday Edward started acting strange, he was either hiding in his room or running around the forest doing god knows what. My visions were constantly alternating between leaving and staying as if he couldn't make up his mind. I swear if vampires could get migraines that would have caused it"

Grabbing Bella's hand in her own she carried on, "A few days after your birthday he called a family meeting and said he wanted to leave, that it would be the safest thing for you. To say it went down like a lead balloon is an understatement, I think Emmett was ready to take his head off. Esme looked devastated and Carlisle wanted a logical reason and to how it would help."

This was more difficult than she expected Alice thought staring at Bella's blank expression.

"You know how stubborn Edward is and he didn't come right out and say it but he obviously blamed Jasper for attacking and me for not seeing it. We argued about it for days. Eventually most of the family agreed to his demands as he said he would leave no matter what we decided. Esme and Carlisle didn't want to lose their son, Rosalie didn't care one way or the other, Emmett would follow Rose no matter what and Jasper felt guilty for what had happened. I was the only dissenting vote and I couldn't get them to stay."

She bowed her head in regret as she caressed the back of Bella's hand with her thumb, taking comfort from the warmth and the steady beat of her pulse.

Ignoring the heat that was rushing through her veins from the small caress, Bella continued to listen to the apologetic vampire.

"I should have fought harder to stay" Alice asserted forcibly.

"Alice, I can understand you leaving with your family, you were my best friend not my lover. It wasn't up to you to make them stay. What I can't fathom is why none of you said goodbye." Bella asked firmly although Alice could hear the hurt in her voice.

"Edward told us that he had explained things to you and that you had understood we were leaving for your protection. He never said anything about leaving you in the middle of the forest or saying we didn't love you. None of us would have let him do that." Alice frowned in disgust at her brothers' lies.

Growling in annoyance she continued "I can't believe he did that to you then had the audacity to act like he was the one that was devastated and brooded for 50 years."

"He always was a masochistic jerk" Bella joked lightly.

"Do you think you could ever forgive us for leaving?" Alice asked gently.

Considering everything that Alice had told her Bella nodded her head in concession, "I think I already have. At least now I know why you all left like you did and not because you were suddenly bored of me. I think that was what hurt most, the fact Edward said it was all a lie and your family had never loved me."

"He almost destroyed the family with that stupid decision, Bella. We haven't been the same since you died; it was always as if there was a piece missing. As you noticed Jasper and I split up, he actually left the family for about 8yrs before coming back with Tara. She's really nice I think you'd like her; she's a lot like you were. Edward has pretty much alienated the rest of us with his attitude over the years and I don't think what we learned from you today is going to help relations with him any"

"All I can say is I'm willing to try but my trust with your family isn't going to come instantly. You seem to be the only one willing to take any responsibility for your actions and the pain you all put me through" she said thoughtfully.

Chuckling lightly Bella smirked fondly thinking back to all the torture she went through having to put up with Bella Barbie and how she always ended up agreeing to it just to keep Alice smiling. "I never could stay annoyed at you for long anyway.I guess we'll just have to see what the future holds for us." she said.

Bella was feeling a lot lighter than she had in years, letting go of the ingrained anger and betrayal she had buried to get over the Cullen's so called duplicity. It felt cathartic.

"I need to ask though, why didn't any of you attend Charlie's and my funeral"

Combing her fingers through her spiky hair in aggravation as she thought about those mangy mutts, Alice answered, "We wanted to go to the funeral we even came back the following day to attend but when we got here the wolves refused to let us stay. They said they considered what Edward did to you an abuse of the treaty. They told us if we didn't leave they would declare all out war and we would never be able to return."

Listening attentively to Alice, only one thing went through Bella's mind.

"What do you mean by 'the wolves'?"

Running through the woods, paws' pounding over the sodden, ground Jacob Black was currently one pissed of werewolf. Fifty years those leeches had been gone and he had hoped that he would never have to see them again but a couple of months ago they had returned to destroy another generation of Quileutes with their presence. Only he, Seth, Paul and Leah had kept phasing over the years. None of them had imprinted and they had wanted to keep the tribe safe from any wandering nomads that attempted to pass through the area. To say he had been irate when he found out the Cullen's were back in town would have been an understatement, as soon as the pack had smelled their presence he had contacted the head leech to discuss the treaty. Jacobs's anger at them had only increased over the decades as he remembered the damage they had done to his best friend Bella. It didn't help that he and Bella hadn't been speaking when she had been killed as Sam, who had been alpha at the time, had ordered him to keep away from her. It was always at the forefront of his mind that he had broken his promise just like that stupid leech had. Due to this he had amended the treaty to make sure those bloodsuckers could never play with another human as they had done with her. The new rule was simple, if they told another human here in Forks what they were, then they would die,

He saw Leah and Seth waiting for him on his front porch as he phased back to his human form pulling on an old pair of shorts tied to his leg,

"How have the patrols been, have you found anything? he asked abruptly.

"The leeches have been keeping to their side. We haven't sensed any other vampires in the area either." Leah responded quickly hoping to not get another bout of his anger.

"Jacob, don't you think you're being a bit paranoid. The Cullen's are sticking to their side of the treaty." Seth queried as he watched Jacob pace erratically in front of them.

"Yeah, until they decide to pick another human as a pet. I'm not going to let it happen again." he snarled.

"Jacob it wasn't the Cullen's that killed Bella and Charlie. You can't keep blaming them. Yes, it pretty awful what they did to her especially playing with her emotions like that and dumping her in the middle of the forest but it didn't break the treaty rules at the time" Seth advised cautiously.

"Exactly and that is why I amended the treaty when they came back. They won't be able to do it again. I betrayed Bella friendship when she was alive and this is all I can do for her now. No one else will feel that kind of pain" Jacob replied the grief showing clearly in his dark eyes as he remembered the zombie like state she had been in for those few months.

Breaking in Leah scoffed "Whatever! Paul should be back soon. He was covering the school today and he will keep you up to date on the Cullen's boring activities. This better not take too long Jacob, I have a date with Lucas this evening."

Making kissy faces at his older sister Seth joked, "Oo La La."

"Watch it you little worm" she said giving him a death glare and a smack to the shoulder as he cracked up in laughter.

Their little spat was interrupted by a large grey wolf bounding out from the forest tree line and heading for them before phasing into the last pack member Paul.

Hesitating as he pulled on his clothes he made his way over to Jacob, his face carved like granite as he knew what he was going to say next would send his alpha into a fury.

"Jacob" he nodded in deference.

Taking in Paul's grim expression Jacob straightened up in a wary demeanour.

"What has happened Paul?" he growled.

"I was watching the Cullen's as they finished school. They all met with the new girl out in the parking lot and they seemed to be having quite an in-depth discussion. She seemed quite familiar with them and followed them back to their place."

Jacob could feel the rage erupting throughout his body as he let the shakes take over and he exploded into his wolf form.

Snarling ferociously in fury, a sound that sent the local wildlife scurrying for their lives his only thought was vengeance.

End Chapter 6

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**Thanks for reading and all the awesome reviews.**

**I can't decide whether to make the wolves good or bad. What do you think?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you all for your views on whether the wolves should be good or bad. I have made my decision but you will just have to keep reading to find out. Lol (yeah that's my master plan to keep you reading**)

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**Chapter 7**

While the afternoon wore on, Bella and Alice sat chatting together each updating one another on of what they had gotten up to over the years. They had both decided to keep to innocent and amusing anecdotes, trying to keep the mood light as they got to know one another again and rebuild their friendship.

Bella had been stunned to learn that her old friend Jacob was actually a giant werewolf along with several others from the reservation and that he was still alive. Bemused she could only think that Forks must be some sort of supernatural quagmire for weirdness. Taking the news with her usually panache Bella had made a mental note to stop by La Push and say hello. Hopefully Jacob wouldn't drop dead from shock or shred her into little pieces before she could explain how she was still alive.

Alice was laughing heartily at a story Bella was telling when she stiffened suddenly, her eyes glazing over as she was pulled into a vision. Bella observed in silence as the emotions flickered across Alice's face, taking in the fear and panic that was being shown from her expressions. Shuffling closer to her, Bella clasped her hand over Alice's shoulder hoping to shake her out of the vision or at least offer some kind of comfort with her presence. Alice jolted out of the vision with a gasp, eyes flickering around the room looking for some unseen danger, her gaze finally stabilising on Bella as she took an unneeded breath to steady herself.

"Alice, what did you see?" Bella asked warily, rubbing her hand down Alice's arm to calm her.

"I need to go; something bad is going to happen .The family's future just went black"

Standing quickly she could see that Bella was worried about her and flashed Bella a quirky grin to lessen her apprehension, "I need to go and check on the family, at least let them know what I saw and give them some warning"

"How about I come with you? I can start on the whole 'Tolerating the Cullen's' plan we thought up." Bella grinned mischievously hoping to lighten the tense atmosphere.

"Bella this could be dangerous, I think this vision will happen soon but I can't see what causes it or what exactly happens. Are you sure you want to come?"

"We're friends right? They help each other out so I'm coming with you, plus I'm not as fragile as I used to be you know"

Bounding forward Alice grabbed Bella in a huge, heartfelt hug, thankful that Bella was willing to go forward with their friendship. "Thank you. I need to get there quickly so we're going to have to go at vamp speed"

"Joy, I always love being lugged around like a sack of potatoes" she said sarcastically, smirking slightly to make sure Alice knew she wasn't being mean.

"Ohh just think of the state your hair will be in when we get there. Bella Barbie is calling- I can see it now," Alice joked bouncing like a hyperactive toddler, grinning broadly as she watched Bella's eyes widen in horror.

"No Way! Threatening me with Bella Barbie is evil and uncalled for. You won't take me alive" Bella bantered back holding her two fingers out in a cross to ward her away.

"Quit your whining you big baby and get on my back," she laughed in response.

Grabbing her jacket Bella hopped onto Alice piggyback style. "Giddy up horsey or should I say pony" she taunted knowing the size jibe would get Alice all riled up.

"Watch it Swan." her eyes narrowing menacingly as she heard Bella's laughter.

Grasping Bella's legs which were wrapped around her waist Alice chuckled ominously and a predatory looking grin made its way across her face. If Bella had seen this expression she would have known exactly how much trouble she was in and so it was a complete surprise to her when Alice abruptly rocketed forward, dashing through the forest as fast as her legs could carry her. Alice was laughing hysterically as she heard Bella screaming like a banshee on her back. The screaming finally tapered off into the mumbling of several imaginative curses as Bella tried to bury her face into Alice's neck to gain protection from the oncoming gale force winds which were whipping by. Decreasing her speed as she neared her home Alice slowed to a stop at the front door before letting Bella drop to her feet. Staggering slightly as her feet hit the ground Bella scowled at the laughing pixie in front of her. "Urgh, I hate you. I seriously think you left my internal organs back at my place."

Giggling at the beleaguered look on her friends face, Alice smoothed down Bella's scarecrow hair and hooked her arm through Bella's elbow and led her into the house to update her family on her vision.

As they entered the living room the Cullen's all made their way in from the various areas of the house where they had been residing.

"Alice what's the matter?" Carlisle questioned calmly taking in her jittery manner.

"I don't know but all our futures just went black. Something's going to happen soon but I can't tell what causes it"

"Do you think it could be the wolves?" Jasper asked.

Looking over at Jasper she replied, "It could be but we haven't done anything to aggravate them. Why would they attack now?"

Shrugging his shoulders in reply he answered "All I know is that they feel a great deal of animosity towards us since we returned especially their alpha. It wouldn't take much for them to attack if they thought they had reason."

"Stupid dogs are always starting trouble" Edward burst in angrily.

"Yeah and whose fault is that" Rosalie retorted hotly, snarling at him as he crossed his arms defensively at her glare. He was always making things more difficult than they needed to be and then acting like he was the abused party she thought aggrieved.

"Enough you two" Esme scolded. She was happy to see that Bella had come back with Alice and she didn't want anymore family arguments to drive her away again.

"Your mother is right. We shouldn't be fighting between ourselves when there is danger on the horizon." Carlisle affirmed smoothly. "Jasper we need a best plan of defence for the family. What are our options?"

Focusing on Jasper they watched as he paced in front of them lost in his thoughts, seemingly going through various battle scenarios in his head. Suddenly as if in tandem both Edward and Jaspers focus swung to the door. Jasper feeling anger and rage pounding against him and Edward hearing the enraged thoughts from the wolves that were pounding their way closer as the seconds passed.

"It is the wolves and they are on their way here," Jasper yelled as he ran out the house to the front yard to anticipate their arrival. Following him outside the Cullen's took defensive positions as they waited for the wolves to appear.

Bella was concerned about the danger to Alice and even the other Cullen's if she was truthful but she had to wonder why the wolves were attacking now. Walking up to stand behind Alice she whispered into her ear. "If it is Jacob attacking let him see me. Maybe the surprise will delay the attack and give us time to get an explanation and find out what the problem is"

Jasper over heard Bella and nodded in agreement, "She's right, the way they are feeling now they will attack on sight. We need to stall them before I can calm them with my power." He wasn't relishing getting into an all out confrontation with the wolves; he knew it would end in casualties on both sides.

Alice could feel the conflict within herself at the thought of allowing Bella to stay in the line of danger but could see it was the only way of stopping a full out assault. Linking her fingers with Bella's she pulled Bella close to her "Stay behind me, once the wolves appear I'll step to the side to make you more visible. You will have to talk to Jacob; he'll be the russet coloured wolf and most likely be leading the pack"

Bella took in Alice's earnest expression and tightened her grip on her hand to relay her acceptance and trust in her friend before turning to face the forest where they expected the wolves to appear.

They all heard Edward's words. "Here they come!"

Bella could only watch astonished as four huge wolves burst through the tree line, teeth and gums bared as they snarled menacingly. The waiting vampires crouched in attack mode as the pack closed in on them. The wolves were only about a hundred meters away when Alice stepped to the side and beckoned Bella to gain Jacobs attention.

Taking a few steps forward towards the stampeding wolves she yelled out as loud as she could "JACOB!"

The colossal wolf which was mid leap screeched to a halt as if hit by a train. Whipping his gaze to the voice that he heard only in his dreams he took in the beautiful sight of Bella Swan.

Bella scrutinized the wolf in front of her. His russet coat was thick and shiny but it was his brown eyes that she recognised instantly. The warmth they had always shown when ever he had looked at her shone brightly as he took her in. Advancing towards him gingerly she ran her hand down the side of his neck, running her fingers through the thick fur.

"Jacob?" she breathed in awe feeling his body tremble beneath her hand.

Around them the vampires and wolves watched speechlessly as Bella lunged forward and embraced the confounded wolf in a tight grip taking in the woodsy smell of his fur. The growl of a wolf brought the two of them out of their stupor as they took in their spectators.

"Jacob can you phase back and we can talk" she asked gently disengaging her hug.

Jacob rose to his feet and lumbered back into the forest, returning wearing just his shorts and a bewildered expression.

"Bella?" he croaked, looking her up and down as if unable to believe it was really her.

"Hi Jacob" she grinned shyly blushing at the look he was giving her.

Teasing his fingers down the side of her face he asked "It's really you" before dragging her into a tight embrace, her face muffled against his bare chest as she wrapped her arms around his waist. She had so missed his hugs.

Looking down at her tenderly he could only wonder how she was here and alive.

"Bells, how are you alive?" he asked, excitement and disbelief emanating from him.

She was about to answer him when they were interrupted by Edwards feral growl, spinning towards the noise she noticed his black eyes and the fact he had taken several steps towards them.

"Back the hell off Edward, he's not hurting her" Alice yelled moving to stand between him and them.

"Thanks Alice" Bella said throwing a glare at Edward who still looked like he was sucking a lemon.

Whilst this was taking place the other wolves had morphed back to their human forms and seemed confused as to what was taking place and were shuffling impatiently behind Jacob waiting for an explanation. They had been expecting to attack the Cullen's and suddenly their alpha was hugging the human that was with them and claiming to be Bella Swan. Confused was a minor understatement.

"Jacob what are you doing?" Paul snarled intensely taking in the tableau before him.

"What we want to know is why you are attacking?" Jasper jumped in, projecting as much calm as he could, bringing the conversation back to him.

Growling loudly Paul took a step towards him as if to lunge, his voice filled with disgust "We saw you bringing another human to your house. That breaks one of the new rules of the treaty."

"Well as you can see Bella already knew about us so we haven't told anyone else" Jasper replied keeping in a crouched position ready if the wolf went to charge.

Stepping back from Bella, Jacob stood with his pack. "The leech is right they haven't broken the treaty" Jacob confirmed, "However I do want an explanation Bella" he directed to her.

"That's understandable Jacob. How about I come to La Push and we can catch up."

"No, I'll come to your place. Until I know what you are and that you are not a danger to my people I'd prefer you not to be on the reservation," he answered solemnly.

"Alright Jacob. I'm at my old house, come by tomorrow" giving him an understanding smile.

With that the wolves strutted into the woods before phasing and heading back to their own land.

As the wolves left the atmosphere around the Cullen's dropped from Defcon 5 as they breathed a sigh of relief.

Clapping her hands together to break the silence Bella giggled "Well I think that went well. What do you guys think?" her eyebrow cocked in amusement. The Cullen's all turned to look at her for a moment before breaking into laughter.

"Only you Bella." Carlisle drolled.

"Hey, no one got maimed or killed so all is good, right?" she snickered.

"True. Thank you for what you did. You stopped the situation turning into bloodbath." Carlisle said.

Deciding she might as well start on making nice with the Cullen's she strolled over to stand in front of him. Looking up into his peaceful amber gaze she gave him a light hug.

"You're welcome Carlisle."

Turning her attention back to Alice, Bella warmed at the grateful expression on Alice's face as she watched Bella give her family a chance.

"Alice and I were discussing our situation and I have agreed to let bygones be bygones. We can start from a clean slate if that is okay with you guys?"

She saw them smile and Jasper must have been projecting as she felt a wave of happiness and gratefulness hit her.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say we would really appreciate that." Carlisle responded as Esme shot forward and clasped her in a hug whispering a quick thank you in her ear.

"Now we have that out of the way and the danger is over Alice can take me back home. I am exhausted and it's been a rather extreme day" she yawned.

"No problem Bella, I can take you now if you want"

"Thanks, I'll see the rest of you guys at school" she said as she made her way over to Alice. Saying goodbye and giving Bella a quick hug the Cullen's went back into the house leaving the two of them alone.

"So, are you ready to go?" Alice enquired.

"Yeah, let's go and keep it to a legal speed would you" Bella laughed, prodding her in the side.

"Hey watch the abuse. You know you like it quick."

"Hmm, I think my last boyfriend said that before I dumped him" Bella wisecracked.

"Wow, I can't believe you're making sexual innuendo without blushing," she gaped, loving the fact that Bella was playing around with her.

"What can I say, I learnt a few things over the years and I certainly wasn't going to be a 100 year old virgin," she jested in mock disgust.

Tilting her head in contemplation Alice asked, "Do you have a boyfriend?" feeling a trickle of jealousy flicker through her at the thought of someone else touching Bella.

"Nothing recent." she answered not noticing the relief flash over Alice's face. "I've only had four serious relationships but 3 were with mortals so it wasn't going to be forever."

Quickly becoming curious about Bella's love life she asked. "What about the fourth?"

"Amanda? She's an immortal who's quite a bit older than me. She was pretty wild and outgoing. She tends to march to the sound of her own drummer and well her activities tend to cross the lines into illegal but she has a good heart. Our relationship was more friends with benefits but we are still close and I see her often. She is good friends with Duncan. I'd like you to meet them sometime if you want to."

"You date women?" Alice stuttered feeling hope blossom that maybe Bella could return her feelings.

"Yeah, is that a problem?" Bella stiffened.

"No, no definitely not. I was just surprised." she responded quickly, her eyes meeting Bella's to show her sincerity.

Bella felt her heart flutter as she regarded the vampire next to her. She had always thought that Alice was beautiful even when she was dating Edward; she just hadn't had the experience to recognize the attraction for what it was then. Smiling softly she leant forward and brushed her lips across Alice's cheek gently, lingering slightly as she heard Alice inhale sharply.

"Thank you Alice." she said breaking the mood quickly. "Come on then, time for you to take me home" jumping on Alice's back who still seemed stunned from the kiss.

A wide grin burgeoned across Alice's face as a loud laugh bubbled up from her chest. Happiness was churning within her as she felt Bella chuckle joyously on her back at her response. Together they set off through the forest.

Neither of them saw the dark gaze staring down at them from the upstairs window…

End of chapter 7

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Hope you like the Alice/bella bonding.

Thanks for reading. reviews welcome


	8. Chapter 8

**Diclaimer- I do not own Twilight or any characters**

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**Chapter 8**

Dawn was breaking when Bella awoke to start the new day. Luckily she had always been a morning person and enjoyed her daily morning workout which included martial arts and practising her combat drills with her swords. Dressing swiftly into a comfy pair of jogging bottoms and a tank top, she tied her hair back in a messy ponytail and made her way out to her back yard, shivering slightly as she was hit by the crisp morning air.

Strolling to the centre of her garden she started her warm up by stretching, beginning with her legs and moving on to her upper body to improve her flexabiity. Once she was finally starting to feel the burn on her muscles Bella leapt into a series of martial art combos. Starting off using slow controlled punches and kicks she increased the speed of the variety of moves before incorporating several spin kicks and sweeping motions into the training. Rotating between an amalgamation of aggressive and defensive actions her body was a sea of fluidity as she leaped, kicked and punched her way through the moves. Duncan had taught her these combos in her early days to help with balance and speed and they had certainly proved their usefulness over the years. It was second nature now for her to do these every morning to keep her body toned and reflexes swift. She began to slow down her strikes until she was standing in a neutral position head bowed allowing her body to cool down.

Straightening up she wiped the sweat from her brow before picking up her short swords that lay waiting for her on the patio. Swinging the twin swords in synchronised smooth arcs, the blades slicing through the air with barely a sound. Bella loved the feel of these blades in hers hands as she spun them so fast they were nothing but a blur to the visual eye showing the control she had over their movements, it was if they were an extension of herself.

Losing herself in the rush of her swordplay she continued her thrusts and parries, using defensive and attacking maneuvers as she sparred with imaginary foe. She was midway through her workout when she caught movement out of her peripheral vision, recognising Jacob observing her from the forest edge; she ignored him to carry on with her katas knowing that he would join her once she was finished. Finally completing her work out she shook off the fatigue from her limbs as Jacob wandered over to her, awe and amazement covering his face.

Wiping off her blades reverently before sheathing them she turned and greeted her old friend. "Hello Jacob"

He took in Bella's flushed face from exertion and the swords cradled in her grasp and thought she had never looked so beautiful, "Bella that was amazing"

"Thank you, come on inside to wait, I just need to get cleaned up" gesturing for Jacob to have seat.

"That's fine Bells, take your time" he answered as he looked around the house that he hadn't entered in so long. Decoration wise not much was the same from what he remembered as he studied the knickknacks lying around.

Bella grabbed a quick shower to wash off the sweat before pulling on a pair of jeans and a low cut jumper. Making her way back down the stairs she watched as Jacob took stock of the room.

"Hey" she said startling him out of his reverie as he whipped around at her voice.

"Hey…" he started trailing off awkwardly suddenly looking like the young boy she had known so long ago.

"I guess I should start." Bella began. "Just to start I want you to know that I am not a danger to your people or pack, that I promise. I am a human the only difference with me is I can't die. I don't have any super powers or death ray vision and I'm pretty sure if one of your wolves attacked I wouldn't be coming out on top"

"How are you immortal, did the Cullen's do it?"

"No! They had nothing to do with this. It was just fate. No one knows why certain people become immortal we just are."

"You mean there are more of you" he asked curiously.

"Yes quite a few. For all intents and purposes we are human so until you kill us and we wake up you would never be able to tell the difference."

"How do you tell who's immortal between yourselves. Is there some sort of club or secret handshake?" he asked amused. He definitely hadn't been expecting this when he got up this morning he thought heedlessly.

Smirking lightly at his sarcastic question, she answered, "Funny but no. When we are in close proximity with another immortal we get a buzzing noise in our head for a few seconds, sort of like an early warning system."

Frowning slightly at her answer he asked, "Why would you need a warning system for your own kind?"

Sighing at the perceptive question Bella replied faintly, "Not all of us are friendly Jacob. Killing an immortal gives the other immortal more power and like most species some of us crave that and will do anything to get it."

"I thought you said you couldn't die"

"Only one thing will kill us permanently Jacob and that is beheading." she said watching as Jacob winced in disgust at the thought of being decapitated.

"Is that why you have the swords?" he asked trying to get his head around all this new information.

"Exactly, all immortals need to defend themselves and we all carry weapons to answer any challenges."

Bella sat quietly as she watched Jacob take in her answer hoping against hope that his next question wouldn't be what she expected. True to form, lady luck decided to kick her in the teeth and she shuddered as Jacob asked the one question she really wished he hadn't.

"So have you killed anyone? You definitely looked like you know how to wield those swords"

"Yes I have and may I just add that they all challenged me not the other way around," she stated coldly.

"Jeez it's alright Bella I didn't think you had turned into a murdering psychopath or anything I just wanted to know if you had been in any danger," he answered raising his hands in supplication.

"Oh sorry, I just get a little defensive about taking lives, it isn't something I enjoy." she whispered glancing at Jacobs apologetic expression. The tightness in her chest loosened as he pulled her into a light hug. Kissing the top of her head as he held her she sighed peacefully as his warmth engulfed her.

"Bella, you are the kindest person I have ever met. I am just glad you can defend yourself. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings"

"No, it's alright I was being a bit sensitive. Sorry."

"No problem. So have you been in touch with the Cullen's long" he asked.

"Well that was subtle Jake" she grinned in response to his question. "But the answer is no, I only met up with them yesterday at school. As you remember they were not exactly on my Christmas card list"

"And what about now, you certainly looked friendly with the little one yesterday"

"Her name is Alice and yes we spoke at length to renew our friendship. The rest of the Cullen's I'm taking one day at a time. I don't trust them like I did but I am giving them a chance"

"What about Edward?" he said sneering the name like it was something he scraped off his shoe.

"Lets just say there is more chance of me being hit by a meteorite than me ever dating that smuck again" she said causing Jacob to convulse in laughter at the response.

Calming himself down Jacob observed Bella carefully; he was definitely noticing a difference in her attitude. She seemed a lot stronger emotionally and unwilling to take crap from anyone but she still had that touch of innocence and her caring demeanor that made her Bella. He had missed her a great deal and was just happy he would be able to apologize to her regarding his previous behavior in the past.

"Okay I've updated you on what I've being doing, how about you?" Bella queried turning the subject to him.

"I've been doing okay. As you know I'm the alpha for the pack. There are only four of us now; the others stopped phasing to grow old with their imprints. Most of my life is spent either protecting the area from nomad bloodsuckers or working at my garage. There really isn't much to tell."

"What about dating, have you met anyone special?"

"No, I've dated over the years sure but I can't guarantee I won't imprint and I don't want to hurt someone like that."

Noticing the time Bella realized she would need to start getting ready for school. Gasping slightly she asked, "Look Jake I really need to get ready for school, is it okay for me to come out to La Push after?"

"Yeah that's fine. I can introduce you to the others; they never met you back in the day. It was really good to speak with you again.I'll speak to you afte school," he said whilst getting up and giving Bella a quick hug before heading out the backdoor and into the woods.

She swiftly grabbed her school bag and car keys before making her way to school anticipating meeting up with Alice before class. Pulling up at the school she saw the rest of the Cullen's just exiting their vehicles so she parked next to them noticing that Alice was waiting for her next to her car. Jumping out of her truck Bella smiled in greeting to Alice while jogging her way over to her.

"Hello Bella" she grinned, the rest of the Cullen's giving Bella a wave or nod of acknowledgment.

Just as she and Alice were about to enter the building Bella felt the buzzing in her mind that warned of an immortal in the nearby vicinity. Halting to a stop she scanned the surrounding area to see who was setting her radar off but was unable to locate anyone who shouldn't be there. The buzzing finally faded as whoever it was moved out of range.

The Cullen's had noticed her sudden stop and were watching her curiously as she looked around.

"Bella are you alright?" Alice asked perplexed at Bella's actions.

Quickly glancing around again Bella answered, "Yeah its okay." lowering her voice slightly she continued "We can't speak of it here. We can discuss it at lunch"

Alice's eyes widened at the cryptic comment but nodded her head and followed Bella into class.

After getting through several classes speculating about what Bella wanted to discuss it was eventually time for lunch. Alice was waiting impatiently outside of Bella's class when she arrived and they both made their way outside to talk.

"What was it that happened this morning?" Alice asked concerned.

"When we were about to enter the school I felt the presence of another of my kind."

"You can feel when another immortal is close? You never mentioned that before." Alice stated.

"Sorry I never thought to mention it but that really isn't the point" she frowned pointedly. "The fact is there is an immortal in the area and I'm not sure if they are a headhunter or not."

Glancing worriedly at her friend Alice could only ask "What the hell do you mean by a head-hunter? Are you in danger? How can I help?" she shot out the questions in rapid succession.

"I never explained the reason I carried a sword, did I?" Bella started.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"All immortals carry some type of bladed weapon; the reason is because we can only be permanently killed by decapitation. We gain power by taking the head of another immortal and because of this the more unsavory types will issue challenges to the death." Bella truly hoped that this confession wouldn't scare Alice away from her.

Alice could only stare wide eyed before stuttering out, "Death... Have you fought against other immortals then?"

Keeping a careful eye on Alice's expression, "Yes I have. I've killed twelve in total over the last fifty years."

Alice saw that Bella was concerned about her reaction but for the life of her she could not imagine Bella killing anyone and could only goggle in disbelief at what she heard.

Bella felt her heart clutch in agony as she took Alice's silence to be disgust. Alice could literally see Bella fold in on herself, her shoulders slumping as her eyes dulled and lowered to the floor. Shaking herself free from her petrifaction Alice rushed forward, grabbing Bella's face between her hands and forcing her to look at her.

"Bella look at me please. I don't think any less of you. You did what you needed to survive, I understand that. Please Bella" Alice begged as Bella refused to meet her eyes.

Alice hated witnessing the pain that her inaction had caused and she knew of only one way to prove her feelings.

Tugging Bella's face forward gently she pressed her lips firmly against Bella's in a tender kiss. Bella literally felt her heart jump when Alice's cool lips connected with hers; she could feel the passion between them building as the kiss got more ardent. Alice's lips moving fervently over her own.

Bella let out a small moan as she felt Alice's tongue flutter against her lips in permission to enter. Opening her mouth to grant access her own tongue tangled with Alice's in a teasing battle. She shuddered in pleasure as Alice pulled her body even closer, Bella's hand going to the back of her neck to hold her in place as she ravaged her mouth.

All thoughts were being driven from her mind; her entire universe consisted of only Alice and the emotions she was enduing throughout her body.

Finally her lungs demanded air so Bella reluctantly pulled back from those exquisite lips, panting softly as she rested her forehead against Alice's.

"Whoa..." she whispered breathlessly.

Alice looked just as overcome with the experience, her eyes a much darker shade of amber as she held Bella n a loose embrace, trying to rein in her rampaging hormones. She could honestly say she had never gotten that aroused that quickly over a simple kiss.

"Whoa is definitely right," Alice responded smirking lightly.

"You kissed me?" Bella stated bemused.

"Err well yes; I needed you to know how I felt. "Alice answered chagrinned. If she hadn't of been a vampire she would have given Bella a run for her money in turning red.

"So you don't hate me for killing those people?" Bella asked tentatively.

Stroking Bella's cheek lightly with her fingertips she smiled reassuringly, "Never! I could never hate you. You did what you needed to do. I was just surprised and I'm sorry I distressed you. I want you to know that my family and I will do anything we can to help."

Grateful for the offer Bella nuzzled her face into Alice's hair, pressing a kiss against her temple in thankfulness for this amazing woman.

"I appreciate the offer Alice but if it is a headhunter there isn't anything you can do. I need you to promise that neither you nor your family will interfere if a challenge is issued."

"What! You want us to just let them attack you," she screeched. She had finally divulged her feelings for Bella and was now being told she couldn't protect her. This went totally against her vampire instincts.

"Alice, there are rules that immortals have to follow and that means challenges are one on one with bladed weapons. No one can interfere with the two combatants." Bella explained calmly." I'm glad you want to help but it would cause more problems in the long run if you interceded. We don't even know if the immortal is an enemy yet. There are plenty of nice immortals you know" she joked to decrease Alice's concern.

"I just don't want to lose you. As you could probably tell from that kiss, I care about you a lot more than just a friend."

Bella had never seen Alice looking so nervous and her eyes were never quite meeting Bella's.

"Alice did you not feel me kiss you back." She murmured trailing her hand down the side of Alice's neck and across her clavicle, feeling the small body shiver in response.

"Bella…" she groaned, heat rushing through her at the caress as her head tilted back in adjuration. Drawing the supplicant vampire closer Bella lowered her lips to her neck, nibbling and licking where her pulse point would have been. Feeling the purring that vibrated from Alice's chest sent a wave of arousal through her, raising her head from Alice's neck her mouth was suddenly plundered by Alice's tongue, the kiss becoming more heated by the second. Hands grasping at each other as they tried to get closer, not content with the contact they had. They leapt apart startled by the intrusion of the lunch bell, gasping breathlessly as they tried to calm down. They glanced around to see if anyone was observing them unable to believe they had got so engrossed in each other before giggling quietly.

Laughing at the situation Bella grinned at the vampire in front of her, watching as a huge smile flourished on Alice's face as they stared at one another in wonder.

"I think that proves I like you more than just a friend as well" Bella chuckled delightedly.

"Most definitely." Alice agreed.

"Well then Ms Cullen would you do me the honour of a date?"

Alice had never felt so ecstatic, barely containing her excitement she lunged forward seizing Bella in a tight embrace before almost screaming her affirmative in Bella's ear.

Laughing at Alice's enthusiasm, "Alice calm down we need to get back to class" she said.

"Yeah okay" she smiled clasping Bella's hand in her own as they made there way back into the school.

It seemed like things were definitely looking up Bella thought happily, glancing down in delight at the pixie by her side .

Hopefully it would last.

End of Chapter 8.

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**And thats the end of another chapter Folks. Enjoy and review**

**THANKS**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer- I do not own Twilight**

**Chapter 9**

It was the end of school and Bella was thinking of ways to explain to Alice that she was heading up to La Push to meet with Jacob and the pack. The classes had gone extremely quickly but for the life of her she couldn't have repeated what had been taught, her thoughts had been completely consumed by Alice and their kiss. Her classmates must have thought she was high with the constant, goofy grin she had been wearing all afternoon. Stepping out of class she saw Alice heading towards her, a beautiful grin crossing her face as she took in Bella elated expression at her presence.

"Hi Alice" Bella said taking Alice's hand before making their way down the hall. Neither was planning on hiding their new relationship and they were ignoring the startled looks from their fellow classmates.

"Way to go Macleod!" Dave yelled as he bounded over to them taking in their clasped hands and close proximity. He was followed more sedately by Aaron who gave them a quiet smile. "Is this why you've been wearing that shit eating grin all day?" he laughed.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Bella smirked in feigned ignorance at the flamboyant boy.

"Yeah, yeah" he said in patent disbelief. "So…when did this happen? Are you dating? How did you pull a Cullen..."his gaze shifting between Alice and Bella like he was watching a tennis match.

"Whoa, take a breath Dave before your head explodes" Bella got out as Alice giggled beside her in amusement at the litany of questions.

"So you are dating then?" he stated.

Taking a quick glimpse at the vampire beside her to confirm it was okay she saw Alice nod her head slightly in assent."Yes I asked Alice on a date and she agreed" unable to stop the smile rising on her face.

"Ahh that so sweet" he chanted before jumping forward and giving both Bella and Alice a hug. Alice froze at the unexpected contact from the hyper human and grinned bemused at the boy once he let go. "Just to let you know I expect details once you've had your date" he stated seriously before Aaron smacked him on the back of his head.

"Rude much. They will not be giving you details of their date" Aaron rolled his eyes in exasperation at his boyfriends' antics.

Watching the two of them Bella and Alice both flashed to Emmett and Rosalie's exact same behaviour and glanced at each other in unison before breaking out into riotous laughter. Having no idea why the two girls were laughing the two boys just watched confused as Bella and Alice tried to pull themselves together gasping for breath and sniggering intermittently.

Finally gaining control Alice managed to say "Thanks for that. I haven't laughed that hard for ages. As a reward I'll let you know how the date goes but no intimate details. Agreed?" she wheedled.

Leaping up and punching his fist in the air in triumph Dave cheered "Yeah!" causing the others to laugh at his enthusiasm.

Shaking his head in surrender Aaron grabbed his hyper boyfriend and started to lead him out of the school giving an amused goodbye to the two girls who just waved.

"Come on we can meet the others and give them the news" Alice said.

"Alice that's fine but I arranged to go to La Push to speak to Jake after school, can I meet you at my place later this evening and we can sort out the details of our date" she asked aiming a set of puppy dog eyes at her girlfriend.

"Do you have to go right now" she pouted.

Wrapping her arms around Alice's waist and pulling her close, "The quicker I head out there and meet the pack the faster I can get back to you"

"That was totally cheesy you know" she grinned, quite content in Bella's warm embrace.

"It made you smile didn't it?"

"Fine I'll head over to your place this evening after you see the dogs," she harrumphed.

"Thank you. Now we just have to speak to your family and give them the good news about us," giving Alice a lingering kiss in response.

Stepping outside they saw the rest of the Cullen's waiting for them in the empty car park, most of the other students having left already.

"You took your time, what happened?" Rose asked impatiently.

"Nothing bad Rose, no need to panic" Alice replied. "Bella and I wanted to let you know that we are together now"

Alice really hoped that the rest of her family would take this okay but knowing Edward he was going to cause some problems. He didn't take not getting his own way well. As if on cue she heard a rumbling growl coming from him as his eyes darkened and he took a few threatening steps towards them.

"What the hell! Bella's not gay, what did you do to her?" he snarled, jealousy rampaging through him at the thought of Alice with his Bella. She belonged to him and no one was going to take her from him.

Bella couldn't believe the nerve of this moron "Are you out of you ever-loving mind. You don't know jack shit about me and who I find attractive."

Edward just bestowed a pitying look on her as if talking to a slow child, "Bella, you are inexperienced about these things. What you feel for her isn't real; love is between a man and a woman. I can show you real love and we can share our first time with one other."

Bella could only stare, mouth agape at the drivel Edward was spouting at her. Seriously what planet was this guy on? Alice on the other hand could feel her rage erupting like a volcano at the filth Edward was ranting and tensed ready to lunge.

Bella noticed that Alice was about to attack and wrapped her arms around the enraged vampire and started whispering soothing words into her ear to calm her down. Turning her attention back to Edward once she felt Alice relax in her embrace she could only sneer at the arrogant boy in front of her.

"Eddie, first of all that spiel was the biggest load of BS I have ever heard. Two, I have dated both men and women over the last 50 years and love is love no matter the gender. I am certainly not a virgin and even if I was I definitely wouldn't be giving it up to a loser like you. I am not interested in you, I will never be interested in you. Have I cleared everything up for you or do you want me to get Alice to kick you in the balls to make sure it sinks in?"

Rosalie watched the tongue lashing that Bella was giving Edward with increasing respect. She had always found Bella to be a bit of a push over back when she had been dating Edward and she was glad to see that Bella had finally grown a backbone. Rosalie had always known that Alice had had more than friendly feelings for her human best friend even when she had been with Jasper. It had showed in every action and smile Alice had bestowed on Bella when they were together and when Bella had been killed it had been as if a part of Alice had been destroyed. She had hated seeing that dull listless look in Alice's eyes over the years. Alice had managed to hide it to a certain extent but she hadn't been the same exuberant vampire they all knew and loved. Rosalie was happy to see that since Bella had come back into their lives that missing spark had returned, even Jasper had stated that Alice's emotions were much more vibrant and had returned to their original perky state. All Rosalie knew was that if dating Bella Swan was going to make her sister happy then she was all for it and no one was going to sabotage their relationship especially not Edward and his prudey ways.

Taking both Bella and Alice into a quick hug Rosalie declared "Congratulations you two, it's about time you two got together." This was quickly followed by shouts of agreement and congratulations from Jasper, Tara and Emmett while Edward just steamed in his own juices as he watched sullenly in disgust.

Thankful for the acceptance from the normally bitchy vampire Bella flashed a grateful smile and returned the hug.

"Just remember you hurt her and I will kill you" Rosalie threatened with a mild glare, she couldn't let Bella think she was going soft. Taking the threat the way it was intended Bella smiled softly in response and nodded in understanding.

Hugging Alice in a loose embrace Bella said "Alice I'll let you explain the situation to your family but I need to get going. Remember you have an engagement with me later this evening."

Bella didn't want to leave her new girlfriend so soon but kissed Alice goodbye under the watchful amused eyes of the Cullen's and she laughed slightly as she heard Emmett 'Aww' at them.

It didn't take her long to drive to La Push and it didn't seem like that much had changed in regards to the reservation as she took in the surrounding landscape.

As she drove up to Jacob's house the front door opened and he stepped out followed by Seth to greet her. Pulling her into a hug as she exited her truck she introduced herself to the other shape shifter.

"Hello Seth, it's good to finally meet another of Jacobs pack." Holding her hand out to shake, her hand was engulfed in a warm but gentle grip.

"It's nice to finally meet the woman all the legends are about. Jacob talked about you a lot… "he joked.

Her blush was mirrored by a slight tinge to Jacobs's cheeks as he glared at the younger wolf in embarrassment "Zip it!"

"Yes Sir" Seth smirked as he saluting Jacob haphazardly his eyes twinkling in laughter as he got to rib his alpha for a change.

Laughing at the two friends as they ragged on each other Bella followed them into the backyard where a barbeque was cooking a plethora of burgers, steaks and meats.

"Hope you like food, if it's one thing we wolves like to do it is eat." Seth grinned as he patted his stomach.

"Whoa, how many people are you going to be feeding, that's a lot of food?" She asked in awe at the amount of food she could see cooking.

"Not a lot, just the pack and some others who know that the legends are based on fact." Jacob explained.

"Alright Jacob, how much have you explained to your pack about me. I trust you which is why I explained everything but I don't want a lot of people to know about the existence of immortals or how to kill us if they don't need to."

"I was just going to tell the immediate pack just so they know you aren't a danger to us. Is that acceptable?"

"That's fine. Where are the other two?" she asked as she inspected the area.

"Paul is on patrol and should be here soon and Leah is picking up her boyfriend"

Over the next half hour people started arriving for the meet and greet and Bella introduced herself as an old friend of Jacobs. She had been spending most of her time fluctuating between Jacob and Seth as they introduced her to the elders and friends of the pack. Meeting Paul hadn't exactly gone smoothly and all she could think of was that he could definitely prosper with some anger management classes, talk about cranky. The rest of the introductions had gone pleasantly enough though and the only person she hadn't met yet was the female wolf Leah.

Bella was currently talking with Seth about the various places she had lived over the years when she again felt the buzz of a nearby immortal. Turning her gaze to where she felt the buzz coming from she saw a young couple making their way over. The woman was a tall, attractive Native American which Bella assumed to be Leah but it was the shaggy haired blond man at her side which pulled her attention. She had finally located the immortal she had felt earlier and by his expression he had sensed her as well.

She felt Seth tug on her hand as pulled her over to introduce her to his sister.

"Bella, I'd like you to meet my sister Leah and her boyfriend Lucas Hennessey."

"It's nice to meet you Leah" Bella greeted and turned her attention to the immortal at her side. "Hello Lucas, it's been a long time."she said.

End of chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry for the delay in this update but I have just moved house and have currently been renovating for the last month. Joy!**

**Thank you to all those that reviewed and kept me motivated to get another chapter up.**

**Trying to get back to writing after not updating for a while was a pain in the butt.**

**Happy reading**.

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**Chapter 10**

Bella smiled as she took in the quiet man in front of her, it had been a while since she had last spoken to him. They were friends but had not been in close contact for about twenty odd years. It had been through Amanda that she had first met Lucas and the three of them had spent time together as a group for several years.

"Isabella Swan, this is a surprise" he said ignoring the looks from Leah and Jacob as he grinned sheepishly at her.

Jacob had noticed that Lucas had called her by her real name rather than MacLeod which was how they had been introducing her to the others at the party apart from the pack.

"It's good to see you Lucas. Last I heard you were still in London." She had missed his quiet intensity and dry humour.

"I've been in the States for a while now; here in Washington for the last few years, I like the climate" he shrugged haphazardly.

"Yeah I can see the similarity with British weather."

Their small talk was interrupted by Leah clearing her throat bringing their attention to her.

"You two know each other then?" she asked aiming her question at her boyfriend who was starting to look a little uncomfortable at the glare being aimed his way.

Bella could see Lucas trying to figure out if Jacob and Leah knew what they were and what a safe answer to her question would be. Lucas had always been very careful in who he told regarding his immortality as most immortals were. It was rare that immortals would tell a human even if they were in a relationship and as far as Bella knew Lucas was no different. Looking between Lucas and Leah the question would now be had Leah mentioned her werewolf status?

Watching as their attention was away from them Bella flicked a look at Jacob to get his attention as she mouthed 'Does he know about the pack?"

Jacob just shook his head minutely as they both took in the blossoming argument ahead of them. Lucas was not Leah's imprint and because of this Jacob had not given permission for Leah to tell him about the pack when she had started dating him. Keeping such a large secret from her boyfriend had been awkward and irritating for the female wolf but she could not go against her alphas orders.

"Okay just what the hell is going on Lucas?" Leah yelled as her temper started to fray. It seemed as if everyone but her knew what was going on and she didn't like it.

Noticing that Leah's temper was escalating as Lucas kept trying to divert her questions with inane answers Bella interrupted the heated debate.

"Look both of you has a big, dark secret, Lucas can't die and Leah turns into a big hairy dog. The End."

This statement was met with stunned silence as both Leah and Lucas spun toward her mouths agape as both their secrets were thrown into the open.

Bella just stared at them both with innocent doe eyes "What?"

Jacob just stared at the lot of them before breaking into gales of laughter as he hugged Bella to his side.

"Damn Bells, that's one way to get them to shut up,"

"Jake she just outed our entire pack to an outsider and you're laughing." Leah yelled in disbelief.

"Leah did you not catch the first part of Bella's statement. He's got just a big a secret as us. I don't think he's going to go blabbing to anyone."

"What the hell are they all talking about? You turn into a dog?" Lucas asked in confusion to Leah.

Huffing in disgust Leah replied "We do not turn into dogs" shooting a stink eye at Bella for that little dig, "We phase into wolves, large horse size wolves"

"Yeah because that titbit of information makes all the difference," he answered sarcastically.

"Oh don't get your panties in a twist Lucas, it's not as if you were all open and out with your secrets" Bella said rolling her eyes.

"I take it you knew about them then?"

"Not until recently, I only found out a few days ago" she responded. "Jacob and I have known each other since we were kids but we thought the other was normal, so it was a bit of a surprise to see each other after 50 years looking the same, I can tell you."

"Well like you said we all have secrets. I guess as long as it's kept between us all I can live with it."

"Are you saying you're the same as Bella?" Leah asked taking in Lucas calm façade.

"I am, although she is quite a bit younger then myself" he said smiling at his felt on a more even footing with both their secrets exposed and Leah seemed alot less tense aswell.

Raising an eyebrow in curiosity Leah asked "So how old are you exactly?"

Lucas grinned "I was born in Ireland in 1842 and I died there during the potato famine when I was 26. I got gutted for the clothes on my back."

"Yikes and I thought I was robbing the cradle whilst I was dating you." Leah laughed. "So how did you and Bella meet?"

This caused the two of them to glance at each other sheepishly.

"Oh it wasn't anything interesting" Bella waved off the question as Lucas continued on "Yeah, boring really, not worth mentioning."

Jacob and Leah just stared at the fidgeting duo who were looking anywhere but at each other.

Suddenly Leah burst out "Oh My God! You didn't date each other did you?"

This was answered by a twin "Ewww!" as both Lucas and Bella wrinkled their noses in disgust.

"Definitely not! Let's just say we both have the same taste in women and leave it at that." Lucas winced in remembrance.

Bella had to agree with Lucas that that story was not for public consumption and she was certainly glad that he wasn't going to explain any further. Their gazes met as they made a silent mutual pact never to mention that story to anyone else, it still sent shudders down her spine in horror as she thought about it.

Jacob just laughed "Come on you can't just leave us hanging with that" shooting her the puppy pout to make her cave.

Not even that look from her old friend would dissuade her "Jacob...!" throwing on her most stubborn look.

Throwing his hands up as he chuckled "Okay Bells no need for the glare but I bet its one hell of a story" Lucas just groaned in response and changed the subject.

"I take it Bella has told you about our kind and how we survive" he asked.

Nodding solemnly Jacob agreed "Yeah she mentioned 'The Game' and everything associated with it. We decided to give limited details to the others and just said that Bella was a friend of the pack so only the wolves will know what she and you are."

"That makes things easier for me" Lucas sighed. Turning to Leah he continued "I think we need to speak privately to discuss more of the specifics between us."

Leah took a step forward and embraced him gently as she buried her face into his shoulder letting the tension ease from her body at no longer having to lie about what she was.

"That's a great idea. You both have a lot to discuss and I need to head home soon, I have date to arrange" Bella said enthusiastically.

Keeping his arms wrapped around his girlfriend Lucas turned his gaze to Bella "Really and who is the lucky lady?" as he waggled his eyebrows.

"Just an old friend" she answered vaguely

"You're not dating Amanda again are you?" he uttered running his hand through his shaggy hair in disbelief.

Rolling her eyes upward "No I'm not dating Amanda again, you know fine well we just decided to stay friends after what happened."

"Hey you never know with her, she could talk a nun into an orgy" he kidded.

"True and thank you for that lovely imagery, Not"

"So who are you going on a date with?" Jacob asked.

Bella knew neither wolf would take the next piece of information well and tried to ignore the question. "Wow look at the time, I need to leave" as she glanced at an invisible watch.

"Bella…" Jacob drawled suspiciously.

"Fine! I'm dating Alice" she mumbled quietly, keeping her eyes averted.

This comment was followed by a twin yelp of "WHAT!" from both wolves.

"Are you out of your ever loving mind Bella? What about what those leeches did to you?" he yelled as he couldn't believe she was allowing herself to get sucked back into their grasp.

Keeping her tone mellow she explained "Jacob, I'm dating Alice not her family, she explained what happened in the past and given her reasons and apologised for the pain she caused me. I decided to forgive her as I forgave you for your choices back then."

"I can't believe you're dating the midget leech" Leah grimaced in disgust.

Lucas just listened in confusion to the conversation before interrupting "Am I missing something? I take it you guys don't like this Alice person. Is she dangerous?"

"No" "Yes" Bella and Jacob replied in sync.

Glaring at the tall Indian in front of her Bella continued on "Alice is not dangerous, she wouldn't harm a human and she has never broken your treaty. I know your kind and hers are mortal enemies but can you at least be civil?"

"Okay time out" Lucas said to Bella "Does someone want to explain. Is Alice one of us? They make it sound like she isn't human"

This comment was followed by a dark chuckle from Jacob "Yeah Bella why don't you tell him what Alice is."

"You Jacob Ephraim Black are getting on my last nerve." Bella snarled in an arctic tone as her hand reached under her coat subconciously to rest on hilt of her blade.

Seeing where her hand was resting Lucas thought he better intervene before Bella lost all restraint on her temper. It was rare that she lost it fully but when she did it was a down right scary sight.

"Bella, do you want to explain before you try to slice and dice your friend?"

Taking a large calming breath her hand eased out from under her jacket but her eyes still flashed with ire as she turned her attention to Lucas nodding her head in thanks as she realised he had diverted the aim of her anger.

"Alice is a vampire and it's a minor understatement to say wolves and vampires do not get along as you can probably tell" she explained gesturing towards the two vibrating wolves next to them.

Lucas's response was to snort in disbelief "Vampires, as in bloodsucking creatures of the night."

Bella got the feeling that he had most likely reached the limit of his supernatural tolerance, she really hoped he wasn't going to have mental breakdown by the end of this conversation.

"You're surrounded by immortals and werewolves and you're sceptical about the existence of vampires?"

"I've never met any and no other immortals have mentioned them, what do you expect?" he parried still trying to decide if she was winding him up.

"They pretty much keep their presence quiet to the mortals and their leaders will do anything to keep it that way. Actually very few vampires even know of our existence"

"Then how do you know about them?"

"Let's just say I have friends in high places" she smirked.

"Alright I'm going to believe that your girlfriend is a vampire, how does that even work. Do you just go out at night?" he asked quizzically.

This caused Bella to burst into laughter and Jacob to snort derisively. Hollywood had a lot to answer for.

"The movies pretty much got most of the vampire myths wrong but I'm sure Leah can update you on Vampire 101 when she explains about the pack and being a werewolf." Leah just scowled at that comment.

At that moment Bella felt her phone vibrate, checking the message she saw it was from Alice stating she was waiting for her at her house. Deciding it was time to leave before another argument broke out she gave a quick wave to the group, gave her number to Lucas and made her way to her car

Smiling in anticipation she climbed into her truck to make her way home, she had a girl to meet.

Chapter 10

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Next chapter -some Alice/Bella


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Alice paced impatiently in front of the house as she waited for Bella to arrive. It seemed as if she could barely be away from the beautiful immortal without feeling a pressing weight building within her chest. She felt the tension ease as she saw the dark vehicle making its way down the road towards her and her eyes gleamed in happiness as she watched Bella's expression light up when she beheld Alice waiting for her.

As Bella exited the car Alice pranced up and embraced Bella in a tight hug brushing her lips over her cheek in greeting. Her smile widened as she felt the heat of a blush crossing Bella's cheeks at the gesture.

"I've missed you," she whispered as she nuzzled Bella's ear.

Laughing lightly "I've only been gone a few hours but yeah I missed you too" she responded keeping the small vampire within her arms inhaling the unique scent that was Alice. "I thought you should know that I met the immortal that is in the area. There's no need to worry as it is an old friend of mine. His name is Lucas and he's actually been in the area for awhile and ironicly enough he is dating Leah in the pack. They aren't kidding when they say it is a small world" she explained.

"I'm glad you won't have to fight. Any chance I can meet him sometime?" a small pout on her lips.

"Sure, he was kind of sceptical about the existence of vampires though but I think you'll like him" she said with a slight smirk.

"I'll put on my best vampiric behaviour just for him" Alice giggled. "How did it go with the meeting with the pack?" she continued.

"Jacob decided only the pack will know what I am and they all seemed okay with it. There was a little disagreement when Jacob found out I was dating you but nothing I couldn't handle"

A small frown creased Alice's forehead as this "Is this anything that will cause problems between the pack and my family?"

"No, it's just Jacob is never going to be a fan of vampires and he doesn't want me getting hurt again"

She saw Alice wince at this comment so she entwined her fingers with hers. "Alice let it go. I forgave you and the only one Jake is really pissed with now is Edward" she soothed.

Deciding they needed to get inside, Bella tugged Alice by her hand as they entered the house making themselves comfy on the sofa as Alice snuggled into her glad to be back in the presense of her girlfriend.

Bella let the serenity of the occasion crash over her as she ran her fingers through Alice's short ebony spikes, enjoying the vibration of the purring coming from Alice's chest.

Golden eyes gazed up at Bella in adoration; Alice had never felt so at peace even with the help of Jaspers power. Just the presence of this amazing human had her beast purring like a contented kitten. Bella's scent cocooned around her but no thirst was forthcoming causing Alice's brow to furrow in realisation.

"Why isn't your blood making me thirsty?" she enquired curiously as she nuzzled into the crook of Bella's neck inhaling deeply loving the fact she could do this without temptation.

"Immortal blood is like that" she moaned silently as she felt Alice's lips move against her neck. "We're a lot like air fresheners. We smell good but you wouldn't want to eat one."

This comment caused Alice to giggle slightly at the joking tone but that tapered off when all she could concentrate on was the feel of Bella's fingers scratching gently against the nape of her neck causing heat to flush through her body and she groaned in response rubbing herself gently against Bella.

Grabbing her by the waist Alice tilted Bella back so she was lying horizontally across the couch before lowered herself slowly onto the warm body.

She felt Bella's hand trace slowly under the back of her shirt, her nails then raking firmly up her spine to play with the clasp of her bra causing Alice to shudder in desire. Unable to hold back any more she slammed her lips to Bella's, mouths open and tongues duelling wildly, her hands fisting into Bella's silky mahogany hair as she tried to get closer. All she could smell, taste and feel was Bella, it encompassed her completely and she needed more.

Bella's heartbeat was thundering in her ears as Alice plundered her mouth, Alice's hips rocking smoothly against her stomach as she straddled Bella on the couch. Bella could only whimper as her body responded to the stimuli her face flushed and body throbbing with want. Wrenching her mouth away she gasped for air her eyes shooting open to the lust filled gaze of the vampire straddled above her.

She could still feel Alice subtly gyrating against her as if her body had a mind of its own; her hand lay gently against Bella's breast plate as if the feeling of the pounding beat was keeping her grounded.

"Alice…" she started breathlessly.

Alice looked down at her beautiful mate and used her fingers to tenderly brush several strands of hair from Bella's eyes before tracing her jaw line and then rubbing gently over her bottom lip. Her mind taking her back to that passionate kiss, the fire it had caused to rush through her, the taste of Bella's tongue as it had entered her mouth. No thought went into it as she said the first thing that crossed her mind

"I love you Bella" her eyes glistening as they emitted the love and desire she had for this woman.

Bella could not stop a few tears from flowing down her face as she listened to this exquisite creature declare her love for her. She could feel her heart clench at the vulnerability and love that Alice was showing and if anyone had any doubts about vampires having souls Alice's gaze would have extinguished them. Truly the statement about eyes being the window to the soul was never a more fitting description.

Sitting up gently Bella wrapped her arms around Alice's waist where the small vampire was still astride her. Her soft gaze connecting with those alluring amber orbs. Moving languidly she brought her face forward and grazed her lips adoringly across Alice's mouth before cupping her cheek gently with her palm

"I love you too, so very much" she whispered back a shy smile highlighting her face.

These words brought a sob of laughter from Alice as she clutched Bella to her in a tight embrace as she chanted repeatedly into Bella's hair how much she loved her. The pure joy in Alice's voice caused Bella to laugh in elation at the hyper pixie and her laughter was soon accompanied by Alice's bell like giggle.

Once they had both calmed down Alice was still burrowed against Bella's body, her head resting against Bella's chest as she listened to the rhythmic beat of her heart.

"So I was thinking of taking you dancing ifor our date, it's a formal event. Would you be interested in that?" Bella asked as she brushed her lips across Alice's forehead.

This caused Alice to jerk her head up in response a broad smile across her face "Really? I love dancing. I didn't think that was your kind of thing though. You hated to dance before" she queried.

"Well I have tickets for a fundraiser in Seattle. Its evening dress and I thought you might like to go as my date. Duncan taught me to dance to help with my balance in my early years and I grew to enjoy it over time but I do prefer the older dances rather than nightclubs"

"I would love to go with you but we would need to go shopping for dresses"

"I figured you would try and sneak in shopping trip at some point" she said smirking slyly.

"Jeez you know me so well" Alice responded with a huff at the jab causing Bella to burst into laughter as Alice's expression scrunched into a pout although her eyes sparkled mischievously.

"Aww you're so cute when you're being snarky." Humour dancing in her eyes as she teased the vampire in her arms.

Alice just snickered quietly as she deliberately raised Bella's hand to her lips placing a slow chaste kiss to the palm, flickering her tongue lightly against the warm hand, her lips tilting upwards at the almost silent groan emanating from Bella at the gesture.

"So… still think I'm just cute?" Alice asked huskily, desire dripping from her words.

Bella's eyes darkened with want as she slid closer to the small pixie, pressing their lips together darting her tongue out to brush across those cool rosy lips. Her breath ghosting across Alice's face as she kept the kiss light, massaging their lips together as her chest clenched painfully at the overwhelming feelings coursing through her as their bodies melded together as the kiss deepened. Pulling back slowly as she took a deep breath Bella hoped that this kiss had communicated the strength of her feelings for the gorgeous vampire.

"Alice…" she murmured longingly.

Alice's eyes were still closed as if in rapture, they opened slowly to gaze at Bella "Wow" her voice breathed lovingly.

Bella cleared her throat softly her voice still hoarse with passion "Yeah" noticing the darkening colour of Alice's eyes. "You look like you need to hunt soon" she said tenderly tracing a finger across the dark circles under Alice's eyes.

"I don't want to leave yet" she whined cutely.

"Come on you need to eat your veggies to grow up big and strong" she joked.

"You're not funny you know" Alice's mouth quirking slightly as she tried to keep he face serious.

"Uh hu" Bella singsonged like a five year old.

"Nu uh" Alice responded before cracking up into laughter. Composing herself slowly and standing up she pulled Bella into a sensual hug before giving her a deep wanton kiss. "Okay. I'll leave you to get some rest and I'll go grab a snack but don't forget we have shopping to do for our date."

Grinning like a loon Bella could only nod watching as Alice went to make her way out of the house. Once she got control of her facilities she managed to stutter out. "I'll see you tomorrow. Tell your family I say hi" before falling back on the couch squealing in delight at her awesome night.

When she left Bella's house Alice was ecstatic as she started sprinting home, nothing but a blur as she ran through the inky darkness of the dense forest. Her face radiated nothing but bliss as she dwelled on the evening events unable to wait to tell her family how well it had gone. Everything had gone so amazingly and when Bella had professed her love Alice had never felt so complete or so happy. Her thoughts were so ensconced on these memories she didn't see the dark figure speeding from the darkness.

The figure slammed into her with the force of a Mack truck sending her small body hurtling through several trees sending debris crashing around the forest as her figure plowing into the ground as she skidded along the forest floor to a stop. She barely had a second to wonder what the hell had happened when the dark mass pounced on top of her a solid hand grasping her by the throat as he loomed over her. Alice could only choke as the grip around her neck flexed tightly and she stared up into the enraged stare of Edward Cullen his coal like gaze promising her nothing but agony.

**End of chapter 11**

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It was a bit fluffy at the beginning so I had to leave it with a cliffy (as I know how much you all love them. Lol.)

This was a first for the whole lemon thing so I decided to build up to them actually having s.e.x. If it sucks please be gentle.

Thanks for reading and please Review

Bye for now.


	12. Chapter 12

Happy New Year Y'all. Sorry for the wait for this chapter but hope you enjoy. Here's some Cullen interaction for you.

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Chapter 12

Alice struggled against the grip Edward held her in, his growls growing louder as the venom pooled in his mouth causing his teeth to glisten vividly in the darkness .He had never looked so much like a monster as he did at this moment, his lips pulled back in a snarl as he glared down at her with rabid eyes.

Knowing she had to break free before he finally decided to kill her she pulled back her legs and slammed her feet into his chest thrusting Edward away from her as she leapt nimbly to her feet. She crouched warily as she focused on Edward scrambling to his feet where he had landed twenty feet away. She could tell he was completely out of control; his body was shaking with rage and the venom drooling down his chin as he stalked his way towards her.

Alice knew this was going to end in a fight and to be honest she wasn't even fifty percent sure she was going to survive; Edward had lost all restraint and was running on pure fury and predatory instinct. Her only hope was to try and make it back home where the family could help in restraining him or help in ripping his head off which ever came first. The only problem was Edward was a hell of a lot faster than she was and in a flat out race she had no chance. Good job she could be sneaky she thought to herself wryly.

"Wow Edward I always knew you were slightly disturbed but not this mental" she taunted sarcastically.

This caused more growls to erupt resoundingly from the enraged vampire. Alice observed cautiously as Edwards body language tensed to spring. A few more words were all it would take to make him lunge she mused and she knew exactly what to say to make it so.

"You really are pathetic Edward. Bella will never take you back, you are nothing to her" she prodded, "All she wants is me and I'll never let her go."

Just as she finished her words a thundering roar came from Edward as he launched himself at her, he was nothing but a blur as he sped forwards his hands reaching out like claws to shred her. Alice had been watching every minute detail and as he reached her she grabbed his wrist and spun using his momentum to throw him as far as she could in the opposite direction she was heading. As soon as she launched him through the air she started sprinting towards her house hoping the head start would give her time to get reinforcements.

She could hear Edward's body crashing through the trees behind her as he finally hit the ground before hearing him bound to his feet and start after her. Alice knew she was still some distance from the house and she could feel Edward closing the gap on her. She could feel the fear building within her and put as much effort into bolting as she could but she knew it was futile when she was suddenly sucked into a vision showing Edward launching himself at her back causing her stride to falter. Just as she came out of the vision she felt the actual force of Edward impacting her and she was knocked to the ground yet again and she tried to scramble out of Edwards grip.

"I'm going to enjoy making you pay for trying to take what is mine" he snarled.

"Bella isn't yours. She isn't just some possession for you to own" Alice whimpered as his grip on her tightened.

Edward just ignored her words as if she hadn't spoken and mumbled to him self quietly "Get rid of Alice, she is all that is keeping Bella from me. Bella loves me. She'll come to me if Alice is gone. Bella will understand it is for the best"

Alice could only listen agape as she heard his inane ramblings. He had truly lost his mind and she knew this was not going to end well for her. As if he had heard her last thoughts his gaze zoned in on her face and his expression darkened in resolve.

"I'll make this quick since you were part of the family but no one likes traitors" he gloated as he pinned Alice beneath him.

"Traitor? Who did I betray you insane nutcase?" she asked in disbelief.

"ME..!" he roared. "Bella is mine, why don't you understand. She was always mine! Now you try and take her from me, you whisper your evil lies in her ear so she will hate me. You want to taint her purity but I WON'T LET YOU! I will save her and she will see that I am her guardian, her true love and we will be together for eternity"

If his expression hadn't terrified her enough this deluded rant certainly did. She watched warily as his hand rose above her ready to strike. She closed her eyes to blot out the visual of a man she had once loved as a brother, tensed ready to kill her. Her eyes shot open as the silence was broken by the sound of twin growls echoing around the forest and her gaze flew to the sight of Jasper and Emmett soaring at Edward and knocking him off of her still frozen body.

Alice rolled over in relief before climbing to her feet watching from a distance as her brothers fought with Edward. It didn't take too long for the two men to incapacitate the out of control vampire. Emmett finally had Edward planted face down on the ground, his knee lodged between Edward's shoulder blades, giving him no room to manoeuvre. Jasper seeing that Emmett had Edward contained made his way quickly over to Alice shooting a quick glance over her to check for injuries.

"Alice, are you alright?" he asked softly running his hand gently down her arm in comfort.

"Yeah Jazz" she whimpered. "I didn't think I was going to get away. How did you know to come?"

"I felt your fear and Edwards rage even from the house. I just dropped everything and ran for you. Emmett must have figured something was wrong and he just followed after me" he explained, watching her in concern.

"Hey you two, want to help me out with psycho vamp here" Emmett interrupted as he held down the still struggling vampire, his normal playful expression missing as he growled at his brother underneath him.

Jasper took one look at them before sending an immense burst of calm towards Edward. This had Edward so mellow he was virtually catatonic. Emmett felt Edward cease to struggle and cautiously eased back keeping an eye on any change in his posture.

"That will keep him down until we can get him back to the house "Jasper explained. "Hopefully Carlisle will be able to talk some sense into him."

Emmett snorted disdainfully "Why don't we take him back in bits, he deserves it for trying to hurt Alice."

"You know Carlisle would be totally against that, however we will make it clear to Edward if anything like this happens again there will be no mercy no matter what Carlisle says" he growled.

"Hoo Raa, your Major is showing" Emmett laughed as he slung his arm over Jaspers shoulder.

Rolling his eyes he shrugged Emmett's arm off and gestured to the comatose vampire on the ground. "Pick him up and we'll head home. The others will be wanting an explanation."

It only took them a few minutes to arrive at the Cullen property and they were met by several of the family members outside.

It was Carlisle that noticed Edwards limp form in Emmett's arms first and raced towards them. "What has happened to Edward? Is he hurt?"

"Oh he's just fine considering he is completely psychotic and just tried to rip Alice's head off." Jasper snarled menacingly.

"Enough Jasper, Edward wouldn't do such a thing" scolding the scarred military man as if he were an errant schoolboy.

Jaspers gaze darkened at the coven leaders tone "Be careful how you speak to me Carlisle. Do not call me a liar. If you had bothered to ask either Alice or Emmett they would have told you the exact same thing."

"Jasper's telling the truth, Edward had Alice pinned and in a position to rip off her head. You can't just ignore this because he's your favourite" Emmett grumbled mutinously.

Carlisle just turned his gaze to Alice a stern frown on his face. "Obviously they misunderstood what was happening between you and Edward. Why don't you explain what happened, Alice. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding which got out of hand" he pleaded lightly.

This comment was followed by a snort from Rosalie in the background, a huff from Emmett and more growling from Jasper. Alice looked at Carlisle sadly; he had always held Edward on some sort of pedestal as the golden boy of the family no matter what consequences Edwards decisions caused.

"No Carlisle! There was no mistaking Edwards's intention when he attacked me with no warning. When he pinned me to the ground and ranted how I was evil and keeping Bella away from him. He had his hand ready to strike and he was going to kill me Carlisle, make no mistake about that."

Denial still covered his face at these words and he shook his head as if to clear the message he so desperately didn't want to hear. "I will not condemn your brother until I have spoken to him. I'm sure he was just upset and not thinking clearly. He would not have harmed you."

"For goods sake Carlisle get your head out of your ass. The boy is unstable! I've never met such a selfish, self absorbed bastard in all my years and this is me saying that" Rosalie screamed finally fed up with the excuses Carlisle was spouting for Edwards's behaviour. Even Esme's face held a grim expression as she held his gaze but she spoke no words of defence for Edward. She loved Edward but she was not blind to his less desirable traits as Carlisle was.

Jasper continued on as Carlisle's attention returned to him "Carlisle Cullen, I have a lot of respect for you and I consider you family but you are the coven leader and need to start acting like it and not like Edward Masons butt boy."

Carlisle's body language tightened in anger as he tried to hold his composure but it was still clearly visible to the surrounding vampires as his eyes darkened at the barb from the southern vampire.

Gritting his teeth to keep his voice calm Carlisle ground out harshly "Exactly! I am the head of this family and I am doing this to keep the family together."

"No what you are doing is putting Edward ahead at the expense of other members of the family. You have just called Jasper, Emmett and Alice liars when they explained what had happened. Would you have disbelieved anything Edward would have said, No as far as you are concerned Edward can do know wrong and it shows in your interactions with the rest of us" Esme corrected softly as she walked towards her mate to comfort him. She hated the look of hurt on his face but she couldn't keep ignoring his actions any longer, not when it kept hurting the others. Cradling his face in her hands Esme could only hope he would take her words to heart before he ended up breaking the family himself.

"I love you Carlisle and I know Edward was your first companion but you have to take off the rose tinted glasses when you look at him. He makes mistakes just like the rest of us" she pleaded gently.

Carlisle could only look around despairingly at his family as they showed him what his ignorance and denial was causing. Their faces ranged from blank to anger and distrust but none of them showed utter hatred which he was glad to see. He looked down at his kind and gentle mate cradled in his arms, she had never steered him wrong or lied to him he thought. Taking a deep unneeded breath to centre himself he turned to Jasper. "I will take your words into account. Emmett, carry Edward into the house we will need to question him on what he was doing." He released Esme and turned to Alice apologetically pulling her into a tight hug "Please believe me when I say I would never let you be hurt. I am truly sorry that my initial reaction was for Edward and not to ask how you were" as he took in her ripped and dishevelled clothes. "I promise you I will try better and I mean that for all of you" as he turned his attention to the rest of the family.

"All right Pops. Let's get this party started" Emmett boomed as he picked up Edward and took him inside, the rest of them following all lighter at heart.

They had Edward laid out on the floor with Carlisle in front of him and the rest of the family spaced out to surround him. Carlisle nodded to Jasper to awaken him ready for the confrontation. They watched as Edwards eyes fluttered open before letting out an enraged howl and leaping to his feet ready to attack.

"Edward! That Is Enough!" Carlisle roared freezing Edward in his shoes.

Edward appeared stunned never having had Carlisle yell at him before, finally he stuttered out "But... Carlisle they attacked me"

"And weren't you attacking Alice" he responded sternly.

A cold look dropped across Edwards face as Carlisle mentioned Alice's name, an evil glint in his eye.

"She got what was coming to her, I wasn't going to hurt her, just scare her a little. She is a bad influence on Bella and I need to protect my mate." Edwards tone patronized lightly. Obviously his family had no idea about Alice's insidious plot, once Carlisle heard his explanation he would help in keeping Alice away from Bella.

Carlisle could only gawk in disbelief as his so called son expelled such words with a look of utter justification, not seeing anything wrong with what he had just said. Carlisle could only wonder incredulously how he had missed so much of Edward's erratic behaviour over the years or if he had just subconciously ignored it in favour of keeping his family together.

"No Edward, no more. I will not ignore the fact that you attacked Alice and Bella is not your mate, she has made that quite clear. You are obviously not in control and are a danger to other members of the family which I cannot allow. You are my son and I love you but you must deal with the consequences of your actions. What you did is not acceptable"

"What! They have turned you against me; you don't think I hear all their thoughts calling me a monster. They are just jealous and trying to keep me from Bella and they are using you to do it. They are trying to play you Carlisle." Edward ranted running his fingers through his already disarrayed locks.

"No Edward you need time to calm down and think about things logically. Since you can't seem to do that here with Alice and Bella in the vicinity I think it would be best if you spent some time with the Denali's to get some perspective." Carlisle uttered calmly.

"You're kicking me out of the family" Edward said aghast.

"No Edward of course not" Esme replied compassionately. "You are still our son but you need some time away. We want to help you Edward but we can't let you attack your sister."

"She's no sister of mine" he muttered rebelliously.

"It is comments like that that are the reason you need to sort yourself out." Carlisle stated.

"Fine I'll head up to Alaska. How long do I have to stay" he sulked.

"Until you can be respectful to the rest of the family and let me just say now, there will be no second chances if you use violence again on any of your siblings"

Edwards face twisted grotesquely at Carlisle's words "And when do you want me to leave?" he sneered no longer keeping up the persecuted veneer.

"This evening, I will contact Eleazar and let him know to expect you."

"FINE" he yelled and stormed up to his room quickly grabbing a bag of clothes. The family watched gravely as he fled out the front door with nothing more than dark scowl in their direction. As the door slammed behind him they stood soundlessly for a few moments before Carlisle collapsed on the sofa as if his strings had been cut, his hands covering his face in anguish.

Jasper could feel Carlisle's sorrow and the disheartenment and doubt from the others in the room. It seemed that they were also very dubious on Edward taking this chance to sort himself out.

He would hope for the best but expect the worse. Only the future would tell.

End of Chapter 12

* * *

As if I would let Edward hurt a spikey hair on Alice's head- no chance. Don't worry Eddie will return but don't expect it to end well for him.

Look forward to your amazing reviews.


	13. Chapter 13

Hi. Sorry about the delay.I know most think this story had been abandoned but I got hit with major writing block and just couldn't get back into it. However thanks to people still reading it and updating it as a favorite I decided to sit and stare at my laptop until something came to me, Hopefully it shouldn't be so long for the next update.

Hope you enjoy.

**Chapter 13**

It had been several days since Edward had been banished to the Denali's as Bella strolled up to the Cullen door, knocking lightly before entering swiftly.

She waved in the general direction of Jasper and Emmett who gave her a quick grin of acknowledgement before turning their attention back to their gaming system and blasting as many zombies as possible.

Bella's gaze was drawn away from the screen and up to the staircase as she watched Alice make her way gracefully towards her, pulling Bella into a tender embrace.

"Finally, I have been waiting all morning for you" Alice groused as she nuzzled Bella's hair.

"You just saw me last night, it's been less than 12 hours" Bella laughed as the sulky vampire just snorted and burrowed into her arms.

"12 hours too long"

"Yikes and I thought Emmett was whipped" Jasper joked from the couch as he took them in.

"Hey I'm not whipped" Emmett huffed, arms crossed.

"You totally are Emmett, Rose so has your man card" Bella quipped readily.

Emmett could only pout adorably "Et tu Baby Bells" as he sent puppy eyes in her direction causing Alice and Jasper to burst into laughter.

Alice could only watch happily as she took in the improved relationship between her girlfriend and her brothers.

Since Alice has explained to Bella what had happened with Edward in the forest, Bella's wrath for Edward had escalated drastically and it had taken Alice 30 minutes to calm Bella down as she ranted on about how she was going to incinerate his psychotic, sparkly ass. Bella had only been mollified after Alice had explained they had exiled Edward to Alaska and Jasper had hit her with a bucket load of serenity to help mellow her out. Even after that fact Bella had refused to leave Alice's side for any length of time and the close proximity with the rest of the family allowed their bonds to grow. The only exception to this was Bella's relationship with Carlisle. He had been distant not just with Bella but also with the rest of the family and didn't seem to be taking Edwards betrayal well, acting as if it hadn't happened at all which certainly wasn't helping his relationship with the rest of the family.

Turning her attention from her errant thoughts Alice could only regard her mate in utter adoration as Bella heckled Emmett playfully.

"So what are you planning on doing today since we know you have your big date tonight?" Jasper asked as he started putting away the controller since the game was finished.

"I'm taking Alice to meet Lucas; he has been bugging me for days to meet with him about some immortal business, plus he wants to meet Alice since Leah explained the whole supernatural thing to him."

"Really!" Alice exclaimed excitedly. "I can't wait to ask him about stories of you"

Emmett bounded out of his seat grinning sinisterly as he thought of all the embarrassing stories he could get on Bella.

"Don't even think about it Emmett. I won't let you get within a mile of him" Bella stated emphatically

Jasper just laughed, slapping Emmett on the shoulder "Ha, Bells has got your number."

Emmett just glowered in consternation, stomping his foot like 5 year old, "No fair, I'm a vampire, top of the food chain, why is the human picking on me?"

Bella could actually feel tears in her eyes as she tried to stop the guffaw from bursting out of her mouth. Alice and Jasper didn't even attempt to thwart their amusement and were howling in laughter at the sight. Feeling sorry for the dismayed vampire Bella crossed over to the burly vampire and wrapped her arms around his waist pulling him into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry Em; I didn't mean to pick on you. You are totally the top dog, top of the food chain, head honcho, king of the world, one of a k…"

"Okay, okay, I get it" Emmett exclaimed ignoring the snickering coming from his brother and sister. "I am totally awesome aren't I?" he proudly stated staring down at his little human sister in bemusement.

"Of course you are" Bella replied, patting him lightly on the arm condescendingly.

"A much fun as it is watching Bella destroy your ego we need to get going." Alice interrupted smirking blithely.

"Okay, just remember to tell your friend if he hurts either of you I'll rip him into confetti sized pieces," Emmett threatened, ruffling Bella's hair cheekily.

"He'll be glad to know you care" she responded waving as they left the property and hopped into Bella's truck.

Driving to Lucas's apartment in Forks did not take too long. They had all decided to meet there as both sides felt that a neutral territory was needed since both a vampire and a werewolf would be in attendance. Knocking at his door they were quickly face to face with Lucas whose gaze zoned in on the spiky haired brunette as Bella's side.

"Wow you weren't all kidding about vampires being attractive. Pleasure to meet you Alice" giving her hand a solid shake. "Come in"

A quiet growl rumbled through the apartment and their attention was shifted to Leah who was standing stiffly next to the couch watching them wearily. Alice had smelled the presence of the shifter before even entering the property and waved her hand in greeting hoping that ignoring the tension in the room would help keep the peace.

Bella nodded her head in greeting "Leah"

"Bella, Leech" she responded taking a seat on the couch.

Bella frowned slightly at the dig but Alice just grinned at the moody werewolf totally unfazed by the rudeness.

Looking between his girlfriend and the small vampire Lucas quipped "Whoa, you guys weren't kidding about the mortal enemy's thing "earning a glare from Leah.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Alice chimed chirpily. " I have been instructed by my brother to get as many embarrassing stories about Bella from you as possible and we can tell you all about her klutzy teenage years as a danger magnet in exchange. What do you say?" grinning fiendishly in delight as Lucas smirked and Bella's eyes widened in horror.

"Wha..." Bella spluttered eying her girlfriend in betrayed disbelief.

"Oh yeah we'll get along just fine." he replied laughing heartily.

"No, No, No! " Bella yelped jumping to her feet waving her hands in dissent at that horrendous idea. She didn't even want to fathom the amount of embarrassment and badgering she would get from Emmett about that. Lucas and Alice just burst out laughing at her terror and even Leah was smirking in amusement at her response.

"Jeez it's nice to know where I stand. You're supposed to be my girlfriend and stick up for me." Bella huffed sarcastically.

Alice sauntered over giving her a quick peck on the lips "I'm sorry honey"

"You should be" Turning her attention to Lucas Bella asked "What's so important that you needed to speak to me straight away?"

"I wasn't sure if you knew or not but Hans Streiger has been seen in the area, "he responded gravely.

Bella smile fell quickly "Do you know if he is here for me or you?"

"With Streiger it won't matter. Whoever he sees first he will challenge then go after the other. He's not exactly known for his mercy"

"That's a polite way of saying he is a raving psycho."

"Who is this Streiger guy" Alice asked concerned.

"He is one of us but he is a powerful head hunter" Lucas answered. " I just wanted to make sure Bella was aware of the danger as he likes to go after immortals friends and family"

"What! Why?"

"It's a way to get us off kilter, killing someone we care for to make us angry and careless. He will be looking for any kind of advantage in the fight."

"I thought immortals have certain rules about fighting"

"We do but that isn't one of them. Head hunters don't have a high moral code; they want power and will do whatever to get it. If slaughtering our families gives them dominance in the duel then that's what they will do." Bella explained.

Lucas turned his gaze to Leah clasping her hand in his "I've explained the issue to Leah and asked she be alert at all times. We thought you should be aware as well although I think if he goes for you vampires it will be the last thing he will do."

"Damn straight" Alice nodded decisively leaning into Bella's warmth.

"Thank you Lucas for letting me know. You are a good friend." Bella said appreciatively .Lucas had always looked out for her whilst they had travelled together and it was good to see that their friendship hadn't dimmed even after all this time without contact.

"Now that the serious stuff is out if the way why don't you tell me about what you have planned for your date tonight" Lucas pried waggling his eyebrows suggestively at the two women. It was going to be an interesting afternoon.

"Well… "

That evening the doorman of the 5 star Seattle hotel watched as the silver city car glided up to the entrance of the building, stopping smoothly before the driver exited and opened the rear door of the car allowing the two attractive young women to be revealed. The first to debut was a slender brunette, her long hair pinned up in a graceful style accentuating her slender neck and bare shoulders .Her form fitting black dress hugging her curves perfectly and the thigh high slit allowing a glimpse of a svelte leg. She held out her palm which was grasped by a pale dainty hand and a pixie like, short haired brunette stepped out, her amber orbs riveted on the woman next to her. Her crimson evening gown was eye catching against the black of her companions outfit. Instead of letting the hand go their fingers intertwined and both women smiled softly at each other. Thanking the driver they made their way in to the hotel atrium handing over their invitations before heading towards the ballroom.

Bella was unable to stop glancing at the exquisite creature next to her as they entered the ballroom. Several tables covered with crystal tableware surrounded the open dance floor and Bella guided them to their reserved seats greeting many of the nearby patrons cordially as they sat.

"How did you manage to get tickets for this event, it seems very exclusive and you seem to know several of the people here" Alice queried curiously.

"It's a charity event, most large companies will send an envoy to donate money and it also gets good PR for them. One of my aliases is that of the younger sister of a wealthy industrialist for a family company. Duncan hated to go to these things so I usually went as a kind of figure head for the company which is why some people recognise me, "she responded.

Frowning slightly as if confused "Don't they think you're a bit young?" Alice asked.

Smirking slightly in response "No, here I'm known as Isabella Carmichael, 24 year old little sister to the CEO of Carmichael Aeronautics not Bella Macleod 17 year old high school student."

Alice could literally feel her jaw hit the table. "You own Carmichael Aeronautics?"

Laughing quietly at Alice's expression "Well, I own part of it as well as parts of several other companies. Duncan and I set it up with help about 30 years ago. As you know living as long as we do it is easier if you have the funds and I can confirm I'm certainly not running low on money," she grinned taking a sip of her wine as she let Alice assimilate the information given.

"You are always surprising me; I think that's what I love most about you." Their conversation paused as the first notes of music started to play and they saw several couples heading out to the dance floor.

"Will you dance with me Alice?" Bella asked shyly extended her hand to the pixie brunette. Alice took the hand, and was pulled into the slightly taller woman's embrace sighing happily as the brunette guided them onto the dance floor. Resting her head on Bella's shoulder her arms wrapped around her waist, Alice lifted her head and gazed into Bella's eyes both of them feeling the intensity between them. "I didn't know you were such a good dancer Swan! I would've asked you sooner!"

"First of all, I asked you to dance!" Bella whispered and leaned closer. "And secondly, this is just the first dance tonight!" Bella's lips were now only inches from Alice's and the small vampire could more feel Bella speak, than hear it. Slowly Bella closed the gap between them and their lips met in a tender connection.

Alice was in heaven. She had kissed others, but this was like nothing she'd ever experienced. She could feel the kiss from the root of her hair to her toes. Her knees went weak and she had tingles running through her body. The way Bella's soft lips moved against her own, the taste of the younger woman and the feel of her body pressed against her was overwhelming. Bella had moved her hands to cup her face and when her tongue danced over Alice's lips, asking for entrance, she quickly opened her mouth and their tongues began to dance. Alice closed her eyes tightly and moaned into Bella's mouth. They broke the kiss when Bella's need for oxygen became too much. Finally realising where they were they laughed lightly at the agog onlookers and Bella continued to spin her love around the dance floor as the other dancers looked on in bemusement at the young and joyous couple.

The evening went swiftly for the two of them as they laughed, talked and danced the night away. They had even swapped partners and danced with some of the other couples who had been charmed by the two girls and their contagious good mood. Alice had been jubilant when Bella had at Alice's disbelief proved that she could indeed tango with the best of them although all the close proximity grinding had left her hot and bothered and Bella looking very satisfied and smug.

Finally with the night coming to an end they bade their farewells to the rest of the remaining guests leaving the ballroom they made their way to their hotel suite eagerly anticipating the rest of their night.

Oooh, I wonder what's going to happen next?


End file.
